The Southlands Saga
by Captain Kite
Summary: When Ash and his friends journey to the harsh region of the Southlands, he becomes the target of a sinister and powerful cult. Yet help arrives from the PKM Rangers Spec-Ops group. Will they be able to save Ash and protect the world from armageddon?
1. Runaway

**I do not own Pokémon  
This story contains several ships, including some with OC's  
**

**YES I KNOW ABOUT THE GRAMMER ERRORS, HAVE NO FEAR, UPDATES WILL BE COMING SOON**

If there was a single defining feature of Delta City, it was the thunderstorms. The sheer amount of rain that the storms dropped on the city was simply staggering. Every day, the inhabitants of the city would wake up and look outside to see the rain, go to work in the rain and head home in the rain. The rain was so intense that it had simply become a part of life in the ocean/river front city. The days when the thunder didn't crash and water refused to pour forth from the heavens we're a rare occurrence.

At night, Delta City became a ghost town. For the obvious reasons of low visibility, lack of streetlights on some roads and the danger of slipping, people choose to stay inside the comfort of their own homes on those nights.

"Except for me." Callen thought to himself as he stood on the roof of a deserted building. He shivered and pulled his coat closer, while still keeping his hand on his gun. Even though only a single group of people knew where he was that night, he was scared and close to panicking. The reason for him being on a deserted rooftop at night was reason enough, but the fact that tonight's thunderstorm was particularly brutal didn't help.

Suddenly there was a flash of lightning, and just for a second he swore he saw the figure of a person standing not twenty feet away. He jerked the pistol he had in his pocket up. Lightning flashed again, he looked at the spot and found nothing. He gave a sigh of relief. But that relief turned to panic when he realized someone was in fact, standing right next to him.

He jerked the gun up, but the figure didn't react. Instead he simply sighed and held his hands up.

"You asked to see us Callen…you can at least not shoot me, I'm only here to help" Said the figure.

* * *

"Trust me I'm not that scary one you get to know me," Kite said to Callen. His eyes were wide with fear, and Kite could see that he was on the verge of a panic attack. The gun in his hand was shaking. He would have to be careful or he would snap.

"I'm reaching for my identification papers" He said as he slowly reached into his coat. Callen watched him move, the gun momentarily stopped shaking. Kite pulled out a small note pad and handed it to him. Callen eyed it for a moment and quickly snatched it, and began looking through it. He then started to relax.

"Sorry," He mumbled as he tried holstering his gun, but the shaking in his hands was giving him a hard time, "can't be too careful."

Kite reached forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Deep breathes," he said simply. Callen nodded and slowly he began to calm down. Kite looked around for a moment, and then pointed at a small cluster of air conditioning units.

"Let's talk over there." They both walked towards the ac units and Callen sat down on one while Kite stood in front of him. "So what do you have that would cause my boss to send me out into the city on this lovely wet evening?" Kite asked him.

Callen didn't answer him, but he did pull out a small piece of cloth from his coat. Kite took it and examined it; it was nothing more than an old shred of sackcloth. Kite looked at Callen, feeling annoyance welling inside of him.

"What is…?" He began to say, but he stopped when the cloth caught the light. There was a symbol on it. But not just any symbol; it was two rainbow colored feather's making an X with a small pearl on the middle. It was the symbol of the Advent of Ho-oh Society.

"As you can-"Callen began, but was stopped when he was slammed against the wall by Kite. One hand was around his neck, the other was pulled back into a fist.

"You have a lot of explaining to do little man," Kite said in a low voice, "I should kill you right now".

Callen tried to say something, but Kite's grip was too tight. He loosened it only a little.

"I'm….gack, trying to defect!" He managed to get out.

"You people aren't really fans of that last time I heard."

"They…they…killed gahhh, my son," He spat, tears started to well from his eyes. Kite looked at him for one more moment then dropped him. Callen fell to his knees and gasped for air. He looked up at Kite who wasn't facing him anymore, but staring across the city before them. Callen stood up, and leaned on the wall.

Kite sighed and turned towards him "Revenge is not the prettiest thing in the world…but it's one of the most powerful, I believe you..." Kite sighed and adjusted the fedora on his head, it still was soaking wet from the rain.

"So you leave the cult because your son was killed by them, when?" He asked.

"During the July bombings…" Callen said his voice blank of all emotion.

"That was last year, why didn't you run out then?"

Callen reached into his coat and pulled out a binder and handed it to Kite. Kite took it, careful to try and not get the pages wet, opened it up and quickly scanned it.

"Wow…..In the ten years since this cult was formed we haven't even been able to acquire half as much of the information inside here…" He kept shifting through the papers, finding financial information, research and development and pictures of hieroglyphs ….

"Callen….who's this?" Kite pointed to a picture of a spiky haired teenager. He had found it in the back of the hieroglyphs section; so far it was the only photo of a person he had found.

Callen looked at it. "All I know is that they are focusing on this kid more than their other projects," he started to say, "but, why? I have no idea."

"Hmmm…" Kite closed the notebook and tucked it into his coat, "I should get you back to my safe house there you can-"

Ping-ping-ping-ping

Callen looked around. "Little bit hot to be hailing," he then jerked upright, before falling to the floor. Kite jumped forward and caught him. He wasn't moving, or breathing for that matter. Kite cursed and dropped him. Blood started to pool around his head.

Gunshots at night; someone is using night vision.

Kite crouched down behind an air conditioning unit, waiting. Looking around he saw the only way off this roof was a door….several buildings over. This was going to get ugly. Suddenly there was a flash of lighting that lit up the surrounding area. Kite took off like a rocket, jumping over the AC units and began running toward the door. If he was lucky, the lightning would have blinded the shooter.

He was already across the first roof top when he began to here dull pinging sound from the objects around him. He picked up speed and tried to stay close to the ground. Suddenly in front of him, a cluster of white projectiles sliced across his path.

"Crap! Bullet seed!" He cursed as he dove and rolled under them. Behind him he heard a loud explosion. Gritting his teeth he ran on. He jumped over a cluster of pipes, while he was in midair her heard something that almost made him miss his landing.

Even with the sounds of a thunderstorm, Kite could hear a voice yell, "Ryperior! Hyper Beam!"

"Oh shit!" From out of the darkness and rain, Kite saw a small spec of white light. It slowly got bigger and bigger before it shot out towards him.

Time slowed for almost a moment as he watched to beam of energy arc towards him. Gritting his teeth, he dove towards the ground and covered his head. For what seemed like an eternity, his back felt like it was being sun-tanned with a flamethrower. But as quickly as it started, it ended. He lifted his head up and listened. The pinging had stopped and all he could hear was the rain….and some voices in front of him.

"Did you just vaporize him?"

"I think I just did…"

"Well that's just great, Rai wanted him alive!"

"Look just shut up, let's go see if anything is left."

"Fine I'll single for Rick to get over here too, let's go."

From out of the darkness, Kite saw two men dressed in what looked like white robes walk towards him. Behind him, the bulky gray and orange form of the Ryperior was approaching too. Kite grinned. He stood up and took one of the poke balls off his belt.

"Hey he's still alive!"

Kite threw the ball towards them and, in a white flash, his wingman materialized. His Lucario looked up at the two men and the Pokémon. In his hands, there was a flash, and a long bright blue staff materialized in his hands.

Kite walked over towards him, "Can you take the Ryperior?"

His Lucario, Sange snorted, "Of course I can, fighting types do so well against ground types." he said sarcastically.

One of the men tilted his head, "It talks?"

Sange tilted his head and looked at him, "It talks?"

Kite grinned.

"Anyways," Sange looked at the Ryperior, "EN GUARD!" In one single move Sange was in the air, and flying towards the Drill Pokémon. He landed on top his head and slammed his staff down between its eyes; He just grunted and shook his head, causing Sange to jump off.

One of the men stepped forward, "Ryperior use-" Kite's fist stopped him from saying anything else. Ryperior turned around and took one look at his fallen trainer and let out a huge roar and began charging towards him.

"SANGE!" He yelled while spinning around and laying the other man flat with a roundhouse kick.

"We wouldn't have this problem if humans knew hyper beam!" Sange yelled while running towards the drill Pokémon. He swerved in front of him and brought his hands together to create a large turquoise ball. He released it ad it sailed into the charging Pokémon knocking him off balance. It let out a roar of pain before stopping. Sange ran toward him and unleashed a flurry of punches at its abdomen. It let out a roar and backed up a little. Sange jumped back and his fist began glowing blue.

"FALCOM…"Author: This isn't super smash bros…"…..damn it fine." He jumped towards the Ryperior and slammed his fish into it. It opened its mouth and let out a roar of pain. Kite by then, had had enough.

"Sange, get inside!" He yelled, making a dash for the nearest door. He jumped inside and slammed to door just as Sange was in too. He let out his breath and sighed.

"Least we got the Intel…poor Callen…" He muttered.

"Callen?" Sange asked.

"Our contact…don't you read the mission briefings?" Kite asked.

Sange shrugged and pulled out a small corncob pipe and lighter. He lit up his pipe and took a small puff. One of his ears twitched. Kite heard it to. Angry voices behind the door…and some down the stairway.

"GO!" He yelled, taking off down the steps with Sange behind him. He jumped down steps three at a time. The voices from down the stairways were getting louder. Kite stopped at a landing and looked down the stairs, then at a door behind him. He then looked at Sange and jerked his head towards the door.

Sange ran over to the door, "Knock knock!" He kicked it down, reliving a very surprised man. He was wearing the same robes the two men on the roof were. His surprised expression turned to shock as Sange dashed forward, grabbed him by the neck and slammed him face onto the wall. Sange hopped over his body and kept running down the corridor with Kite behind him.

"Any bright ideas on how to escape?" Sange yelled as they ran.

"I was thinking we do this he old fashion way, just beat our way out."

Sange laughed as they turned a corner, only to find them in front of a group of the robed men. Hands began reaching for poke balls but Kite and Sange didn't give them a chance. Kite dashed forward and jumped towards one of the walls. He quickly kicked off of it towards the group and landed on top of two of the men. The three of them crashed into the ground and kite quickly hopped to feet. He reached out and grabbed someone's arm; he quickly twisted it, being rewarded with a grunt of pain.

Sange took a different approach, and used quick attack to close the difference between him and the group. When he was close enough he jumped into the air and kicked the closest man in the face, dropping him to the ground. A fist flew towards him and he lazily moved his hand up, grabbed it and squeezed. He then put his foot forward and threw his assailant to the ground.

"Amateurs..." he muttered, taking another puff from his pipe. Kite got up and motioned him over.

"By now I think this building is surrounded completely and- AHH!" Pain exploded along his arm. He looked down and saw a long red gash on his bicep. He looked around. Down the hallway was a small army of the white robbed men. In front there stood a man with a smoking rifle. He raised it to fire again.

Sange already had other ideas planned. He grabbed his trainers arm and dashed around another corner just as he fired again. They began running back the way them came. Kite reached down and touched a poke ball.

"Sorry buddy," he muttered. Sange disappeared in a red light, not ever able to let out a bark of surprise as he was returned. He could hear voices behind him and he knew he had to hurry. He pressed another poke ball and in a flash of white stood a tall, graceful Gardevoir. Yet where it should have been green in most places, it was a light blue color.

"OK, Moon, can you teleport us out of here?" He asked. His Gardevoir let out a small bow and closed its eyes. Kite let out a small sigh of relief. Then his eyes widened. Behind moon was another group of men and each one of them had a gun. They aimed at him.

"CRAP!" He yelled and grabbed Moon around her waist.

"Gar?" She managed to say before Kite began running towards a window.

"Are you crazy?" He heard moon say telepathically. Kite ignored her and dove through the window, just as the robed men opened fire. Rain and small shards pelted his face as he began falling through the air. He could see the ground approaching fast.

"Moon, NOW!" Moon brought her hands together, and in a bright flash of light, they were both gone.


	2. Tak and Kite

**Delta City- Spec-ops Southlands Command**

Sky yawned and put his gun and pokeballs on the cart and watched them go through the X-ray machine. He then walked through the metal detector and gave the security guard his badge.

"Morning, Mr. Sky, I hope this weather is treating you well," the security guard said cheerfully.

Sky chuckled, "Rain and thunder are good for people from Delta City, not someone from Lillycove, Jay."

"True that sir, you northern folks are lightweights."

Sky's gun and Pokémon came through the scanner; he picked them up and put them on his belt.

"Is there anything new happening around here?" He asked Jim

Jim shrugged, "Rumor 'round the water cooler is that Myra and Kyle are going-"He began but was cut off by a flash of light from the atrium. Sky covered his eyes quickly. And as fast as the light appeared, it disappeared, revealing a young man and shiny Gardevoir….about fifteen feet above the floor. They promptly crashed into the ground.

"Last time I'm ever letting you drive," Kite muttered as he helped his Gardevoir up. Sky looked at Jim and shrugged, he walked over.

"Kite, what the hell, you do know there's a rule against teleporting in the building and….what happened to your arm?"

**Delta City: Half an hour later **

Jazz. That was what calmed the soul. Tak sat on a barstool and listened to the melody that the saxophone player was creating. Its soft notes where gently making him become more and more relaxed. The thunderstorm that was blowing through the city helped too. He turned around and faced the bartender.

"Jake, you ever think about all the storms that blow through here?"

The man with the long brown hair behind the table turned and looked at him.

"No, should I?"

"Heh….never mind," Tak said. "Can I get a Black Lager?" Jake snapped his fingers and his treeko picked up a bottle and filled it up. He passed it down to Tak and began to wipe a few spare bottles.

Tak nodded his thanks. "Just a small thing for you to think about whenever the rain chases away your customers..." Excluding the jazz band and Jake, he was the only one in the room. Not many people bothered heading outside in a Delta City thunderstorm, but Tak was one of them.

"I should say the same for you, my friend; you haven't had a case for a few months." Jake said.

"Most people would consider that a good thing Jake," Tak said while sipping his drink. "Any day when I don't have to wake up and see someone murdered on the streets is a good day."

"Not when you decide to make a business about it."

Tak shrugged, "Some see it like that, and others don't."

Outside the storm continued to rage.

**Southlands Spec-ops Command **

"In all honesty, Willow, you could have freaking told me this was a lead on the Advent of Ho-oh, I could have come a little bit more prepared for when the shit hit the fan- ouch!" Kite said when the medic poked a needle into the skin around his wound. Luckily the bullet had only grazed him, but it was deep enough to require stitches.

His boss, Willow, and another commando, Sky, were in the room with him. Willow was not exactly looking happy at the moment, presumably because Callen was killed.

"We didn't know who he represented, only that he had important information," she said, "If we knew he was from advent of Ho-oh, I would have sent every agent we had."

Kite grunted again as the needle pierced his flesh, "At least he didn't die in vain, I got the information out."

Willow exchanged a nervous glance with Sky; Kite saw it.

"What now?"

"Everything in there is practically useless….all those cash accounts and server passwords have been wiped out, all of its gone. Everything we have is useless." Sky said. Kite cursed, half from the pain, the other from anger.

"What about those pictures of the hieroglyphs and that picture of the kid?"

"We so far haven't been able to identify the symbols, and we're working on an ID for the kid..."

Beside him, the medic finally finished by wrapping a bandage on his arm. Kite thanked him as he walked off. He flexed his arm and it twitched from the pain.

"Something about that kid tells me I've seen him before."

Delta City

The phone beside Jake suddenly let out a shrill beep, causing the jazz band to stop playing for a moment. Tak watched as Jake walked over and picked it up.

"Hello? ...yes…..ok" A look of confusion passed over his face "It's ah…for you"

Tak frowned and took the phone from his hand. He looked at Jake and mouthed the word "who?"

Jake just shrugged.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Tak West?" asked a feminine voice.

"Yes, this is he."

"1243 Midwalk Way, on the roof." she said. Then there was a click and the line went dead. Tak blinked and handed the phone back to Jake.

"Well?" he asked him. Tak stared down at the drink in front of him.

"I honestly have no idea," he sighed and got up. "I really feel like I'm going to regret this later." He threw on his overcoat and placed his fedora on his head. He reached down and touched a pokeball, in a flash of light his Ninetails appeared. She stretched out and licked Tak's hand.

"Looks like we might be busy tonight girl," (Editor: THAT'S WHAT) He said. Ninetails looked outside at the thunderstorm and nodded.

Tak turned to Jake, "Keep my seat warm old friend."

Jake just shrugged "Whatev's..."

Delta City

_'Sometimes, this city just sucks.'_ As he walked through the rain, he thought of how depressing Delta City looked in the rain. The street in front of him was completely deserted. The rain combined with the streetlights seemed to give the atmosphere an almost menacing aura. The walls of the buildings showed rust and peeled paint. _'It's almost like this town is dying,'_ he thought to himself.

Next to him, his Ninetails, who was using protect to stay dry, looked at her master. She could tell what he was thinking. She wished he wouldn't get so depressing like this all the time. This city was bad, but being 500 years old, she had seen worse. She walked up and let out a small wine.

Tak looked at his first Pokémon and scratched her ears gently.

"I know girl, let's just see what this is all about and get back home" He said. In front of him he saw the building he was supposed to go to. Its lights were off and the front doors were boarded up. Paint was flaking off its walls and its masonry was crumbling.

"Well this is just sad," he muttered as he observed the buildings sorry state. Ninetails growled to get his attention; he looked and saw she was looking at a fire escape ladder.

"There's our ticket up" he muttered. He looked at his Ninetails, "Sorry girl, I don't know what you think of ladders with the whole thumb problem…" He returned Ninetails to her ball.

"Ok, up we go…" He began climbing the steps and almost slipped on the metal a few times. _'Walking up a metal ladder in the rain….not one of my best ideas,_' he thought. He got to the top and looked around.

"So now what's the big deal…..oh." Tak sighed as he saw the body of someone next to a clump of Air conditioners. "And I wanted to spend the whole night drinking...."


	3. Who is Ash Ketchum?

"Who the hell is Ash Ketchum?" Willow asked as she looked at the clipboard an aid had just given her. Kite and Sky were sitting in Willows office, discussing options against the Advent of Ho-oh cult. She sighed and brushed a strand of her silver hair out of her green eyes. Kite could see she was pretty stressed out. He didn't blame her. With the loss of all the data that Callen had given them, the only thing that had any promise was the photo of the teenager.

"Ash who?" Sky asked.

"Ketchum, hang on". She fumbled with a small terminal on her desk. The wall beside her swung open to reveal a TV screen. It flickered on the reveal a picture of the Teenager, except this time he was standing with a Pikachu in front of a large canyon.

"This is what our identity programs came up for the person in the folder, Ash Ketchum, eighteen years old born in pallet town, Kanto"

Kite looked at the picture of Ash and his Pikachu "I swear I've seen this kid from somewhere"

Sky, who was looking through a file that Willow handed him spoke up, "You probably should, this kid's got a pretty good track record, Indigo league, Orange league, multiple minor tournaments…."

"Did he compete in the Terracotta Pokémon contest a few years back? Tie with umm…..April or something?" He asked.

Sky thumbed through the file, "Yeah, tied with a girl named May, not April. How did you know?"

Kite paused for a moment before answering "I think I saw it on TV"

Willow changed the subject "Why did Callen put his picture in here?"

Kite shrugged "Said he was their current focus at the moment"

"Why would a religion terrorist group with near unlimited financial and military power go after a kid who lives in the north?" Sky said, emphasizing the word north. Sky was born and raised Southlander. He looked down on people that lived in the northern more "civilized" continents. This irked Kite, as he was from Kanto originally, but he was used to Sky being a crappy xenophobe, he ignored it.

"Is he connected to any organizations that might have ties to the advent?" Kite asked.

"He's had run ins with…Team Galaxy, Team Magma and Aqua, a bunch of other corporations with no ties to the cult……oh my…"Sky sniggered" Pokémon G-men."

Kite let out a laugh "What's he doing around that bunch of glorified rescue rangers?"

"Taking imaginary bullets for them?" Sky said laughing. Neither of the two commandos had any respect whatsoever for that vigilante group.

Willow ignored the two teenagers and looked at the file again "You forgot Team-Rocket."

Sky didn't notice the dark flash that appeared in Kites eyes, but it was gone when he looked over.

"Those guys too I guess." He muttered "But they have no ties to the Advent."

"Team Galaxy was disbanded after Kite assassinated Cyrus, Magma and Aqua faded after they failed to bring Groudon and Kyogre into battle…Team rocket on the other hand…" Willow stopped and sighed

"Well they're not going anyplace anytime soon."

"And neither is this investigation as long as we don't know what this kid's connection is." Kite said.

Willow sighed and sat down "ok…so far, we know the Advent of ho-oh came onto the scene ten years ago and has since become the world's largest terrorism network. It's financial and material resources are near limitless yet its locations are unknown. The command elements are thought to exist in the Deep South. They are responsible for several terrorist attacks, many centered towards material loss, not personal." Willow stood up and began to ponder.

"For the past ten years we have tried unsuccessfully to shut this group down, with no success. And when our big break comes around, the only thing we can come up with is this kid, Ash Ketchum, Am I missing anything?"

Kite and Sky shook their heads.

"This is still not getting us any closer towards what we are looking for, who the hell is Ash Ketchum?" Willow was looking fed up at the moment. She had spent her entire time in the southlands working against the Advent of Ho-oh, and had nothing to show for it.

"Why don't we ask him?" Sky suggested.

"If he's involved in this and we 'ask him' he might run and make any relationship he has too the cult disappear" Kite said.

"Who said we were going to let him know? What if he had someone tailing him….if he pulls anything we grab him?"

"Tailing him?" Willow asked.

"I mean like a friend, says in the file he travels with friends. That can be our ticket in"

"Is he still traveling?" Kite asked

"I don't know"

Willow sat back down in her desk "Yes he is, financial records showed he bought a ticket to Lily Cove Harbor in Hoenn"

"So he's traveling in the north?" Sky asked.

"Not quiet, He also purchased a ticket for the S.S Cameroon; its destination is none other than Port Hope, Southlands"

Sky grinned "that makes things easier. Now all we need is someone to be his 'friend'"

Willow and Sky immediately looked at Kite.

"…….no"

"Yes" Willow said "I'm supporting this idea"

"No, I'm not doing it"

"Yes you are and that's an order"

Kite sighed and stood up "I don't make friends Willow, you know I'm not a people person"

"Kite you're the only person that fit's his age group" Kite began to open his mouth but Willow cut him off "Sky's busy with something else."

"Come on Willow, I'm like the least friendly person you know. Put me in a room with Ash and he would either want to hang himself or shoot me in the face"

"Kite, you're not…… that bad" Sky said.

"Kite, it doesn't matter what you say, you're going to be on that boat with Ash in a week, one way or another" Willow said. She stood up in her infamous 'decider pose' with her chin down, arms crossed and legs apart.

"Kite, you have a plane to lily cove to catch, and you're going to become popular very soon" She pointed at the door to her office "now get out and get ready, your leaving in the morning".

Kite stood up and shot her a look that could have set off an atom bomb. Luckily Willow didn't see it; otherwise he would be cleaning toilets for a month. He walked out and closed the door.

Sky watched him go and looked at Willow.

"You lied to him; I could have easily done this mission" He said carefully.

"I know….but you and I both know he's the best. And if this Ash turns out to be part of the Advent, he can bring him in"

"You send a veteran assassin to do a bounty hunters job? If we're lucky we'll be able to identify the remains" He said sarcastically.

Willow sat down and sighed "I'll admit, he has a tendency to shoot first and forget about asking questions, but something tells me this will be good for him as a human"

Sky scoffed "Now missions are suddenly about making people feel good?"

Willow didn't answer for a moment "How long have you known Kite?"

"Five years, why?"

"Have you ever…..noticed anything about him?"

"Kite is Kite; there are a lot of things about him that are weird" Willow stared at him. "Ok…he seems to be….tired most the time…not physically….what's this about Commander?"

Willow stood up again and looked out her office window. She could see one the runoff streams from the Grand River from her office. When it wasn't thunder storming, she could also see the ocean. But when was it not thunder storming in Delta City?

"Kite's saved our lives dozens of times over…Yet you and I both know that there has always been a part missing from him. I honestly don't think this Ash is a threat…he might be connected, but that's it. I sent Kite on this mission so he could possibly, against all odds, find that missing part."

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"We have to babysit this kid?" Sange said while sitting on Kites bed. He was busy filling up a bag with clothes and other items he would need.

"I don't know that or nail his ass to the wall if he's part of the advent" Kite reached over and opened a locker beside his bed to reveal his weapon storage.

"You would think that we could be used for something more important than this…."

"Like?" Kite reached in and pulled out a compact submachine gun "too small…" He put it back in.

"Well we could be combing the South Wilds for the advents base, and then storm it and get all the glory" Sange punched the air a few times.

"I'm not one for glory Sange" He reached in again and pulled out a huge sniper rifle that was about the size of himself "hmmm….maybe for later" He put it back in.

"But I am! Hell, you know I want to be known. If I had it my way, I would be perusing my dream of being a fashion model!"

"Really?" He pulled out a bazooka "Wait why would I even need this…." He put it back in.

"Hell no, I would rather be getting hammered down the street and sleeping with all the lady Lucario's"

A yellow blur streaked into the room and hopped onto Kite's bed. Kite's Pikachu, Sun, watched Kite pack and then he turned to Sange.

"Pika pi cha?" He asked him.

"Naw, I wish, we're heading in the opposite direction, Hoenn"

Sun smiled "Pikapikachu!"

"What, it's not a vacation!"

"Pika!" He exclaimed before jumping onto Kite's head and nuzzling his neck. Kite scratched the Electric mouse's head before pulling out what resembled a leaf blower.

"I don't need a friggan lazor"

"Don't you know that all situations can be fixed by a lazor?" came a voice from behind him. Kite turned around and saw his MSC (Mission Support and Communications) advisor, Zach walk in.

"Evening Zach" He said before putting the Lazor back in to his locker. "You have my briefing ready?"

Zach walked towards him and handed him a brown folder. He then turned around and did some sort of complicated handshake with Sange. Kite ignored them.

"Anyways, it's all there, past acquaintances, Pokémon everything you can find except the person itself"

"Alright that works..."

"Now, I'm going to be flying you to Lily Cove…" Sange, Sun and Kite all let out groans "and dropping you off. Until you get back to the Southlands, I won't have any communication with you. So you won't have any backup in Hoenn, or the boat."

"Works for me, what's the worst thing that's ever happened on a boat?"

"S.S Anne"

"Oh…..right"

Zach began to walk out "I'll see you in a few hours in the hanger".

"Later Zach" Both He and Sange said.

Kite turned his attention back to his weapon cabinet, and pulled out a stick of dynamite.

"Wow really dude?" Sange said.

"There's so much shit in here I won't be surprised if there's a tank in here"

Sange's eyes started to gleam

"Ahhhh……no"

"We could use a tank"

"If I EVER get a tank, you're sure as hell not driving it"

Sange started to say something else, but Moon had just walked in. Sun immediately dashed over and jumped into her arms. He let out a small "cha" as she scratched his back.

"Moon do you think I can…?" Sange started to say, but Kite ignored him.

He surveyed the amount of gear he had in front of him. On his left was his weapon pile. He currently had Two Desert Eagles, a pack of C4, a case containing a small sniper rifle, a satchel of grenades, and a small knife. He wondered if he was going a little overboard, but thinking about his past operations convinced him otherwise. If shit decided to fly in his general direction, he would be prepared for it.

His other stack included his basic essentials he needed for recon. Binoculars, Night vision goggles, compact radios and wilderness survival gear. He considered losing the wilderness survival kit. He knew how to survive with his bare hand's if need be. Still better safe than sorry.

Then there was the last thing. His Katana. More of a good luck charm than a weapon. It was one of the few items he had from his past and he took it wherever he went. He wrapped his fingers around the black hilt and slowly pulled the old blade out. The light caught the strange reddish metal it was composed of, giving it a menacing shine. Zach had once said it reminded him of something called a blood sword, but then again, Zach says a lot of things. The edge of the blade was still incredibly sharp and had absolutely no blemishes on it. Kite stared at it for a few more seconds then put it back into the black sheath.

"Looks like just about everything" he muttered. He turned his attention back to his Pokémon.

"…so then like ten thousand ninjas came outta nowhere…." Sange was saying to both Sun and Moon who were pleasantly ignoring the rambling Pokémon.

Kite sighed; it was almost time to go. "Ok, who wants' to ride with me and Zach."

Sun, Moon and Sange stopped talking and started at Kite like he had grown a second head. At the same time, they all reached towards his belt and touched their respective poke balls, returning themselves.

"Sigh…..why do I keep them around in the first place?"

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

"Alright, so we'll be flying out of the Aeryn bay and on across the south ocean until we hit the Aeryn Atoll, then we got to fly through the riptide corridor, so it's gonna get bumpy." Zach said from the pilots seat. Farther back in the cabin, Kite sat, fearing for his life. Zach's flying style was different….from other's.

"Bumpy….that's great"

"I know, that were it gets fun" Zach said while laughing. Kite felt like he had better chances swimming across the ocean instead of flying. Zach began pressing down on some buttons and the plane's engine burst to life, and immediately started coughing.

"Piece of Johto crap…" he muttered. He quickly pounded on the dash board. The plane sounded much healthier.

"Ah there we go, let's get this show on the road!"

Kite groaned


	4. Runaway again

Chapter three

"Good god what happened here" Tak muttered as he looked around the rooftop. Pipes were strewn across the floor, looking like had been snapped off whatever they were attached too. In the middle off a roof was a long blackened line that looked like it had vaporized a few centimeters of the floor. Closely inspecting the walls, Tak found multiple bullet holes. Yet for all the devastation, Tak only cared about the body that was lying face down in a pool of blood and water.

Take walked over and crouched next to the body. A single gaping hole in the back of his head stared back. Kite sighed, If any forensic agent saw what he was about to do, they would have him shot. Gently, he dug his hands under the man's side, and gently flipped him over onto his back. Tak took a look at his face. It seemed to be stuck somewhere between pain and surprise. Most of the bodies Tak had seen during his run as a Private Investigator had the same expression.

Take moved his gaze down to the man's jacket. He felt around for anything that he could use. Driver's license, ID, business card, anything he could use to identify the man. His hand hit something large. Tak reached in and pulled it out. It was a cell phone. Kite smile and opened it up. A picture of a young boy being hugged by the dead man popped up as the wallpaper. Tak sighed; he hoped the boy wasn't his son. He clicked menu and opened up the phone records.

He frowned; there was only a record of a single phone call made four hours ago. It listed as "Contact". Tak frowned and looked back at the man's body. This was getting weird. First a call from some random girl telling him to come here, then finding a warzone on top of a building, and now this.

"Hoy jeez…"He muttered. He began thinking about what could have happened to the man and the amount of firepower that needed to be unleashed to cause this mess. He stood up and began to pace around, looking at the wreckage.

_So he comes out onto the roof….for what reason?_

He remembered he still had a few friends in the phone company, he could ask them to see if they could pull the call the man made.

_A fight broke out, that's a given, but why? I guess it ended with him being shot in the back of the head….If he was running that had to have been one hell of a shot…..unless, he was shot before the fight started._

His thoughts drifted back to the name of the person he called, "contact"

_He might have been meeting someone. That might explain why he was on the rooftop. But it would also mean someone else was up here with him. This guy gets shot in the back of the head and the other man runs._

He looked at the wreckage, bullet holes and scorch marks in the rooftops.

_Must have had a whole army chasing after him, wonder if he made it?.....Wait if his body is this here, then that means if they killed him that other guys body should be here too._

He stiffened

_Why would someone that can field this much firepower not bother to clean up the mess? Unless they wanted someone to find it._

His thoughts drifted back to the phone call he had received telling him to come here.

_Could this be a set up??_

Tak's adrenaline spiked and he immediately dashed towards the nearest door he could find. If this was a setup, he would be a walking target on the roof. His Fedora almost flew off his head as he slammed the door open with his shoulder. It immediately gave way and Tak found himself in a stairwell with dull lighting.

Not bothering to catch his balance he immediately jumped down a flight of steps till he made it to another door. This one was blown open. Tak skidded to a stop and looked in. This corridor also had bullet holes in the wall and he could see overturned furniture. Like the roof, a battle had also happened here.

I'm going to regret this, He thought as he stepped in. Although part of him wanted to get out of the building as fast as possible and high tail it to Jake's Pub, another part of him told him to get to the bottom of this mystery. He walked forward, looking for anything that was out of place. He shortly found it.

On the side of the wall was a small blood splatter. It was at the height of Tak's chest and it seemed to have splattered out in a direction towards where he had just come.

_Looks like someone wasn't too lucky. If whoever got shot was standing like me, that would mean the shooter was somewhere over here._

Tak walked farther down the hallway. He suddenly stopped and realized something was wrong with the window he was standing next too. There was no window.

_No glass on this side….looks like someone or something jumped_

Tak suddenly noticed something, as he looked out the window, he could see the road he had took to get to the building. And he specifically remembered that as he walked here, there were no lights on in the building.

"Oh crap!" He managed to get out. He turned around with the intention to run for the exit. But found himself blocked by a man with a pistol that was currently aiming at his head.

_How the hell did he sneak up on me?_

"Who are you?" The man asked. Tak looked at the man behind the gun. He was dressed in some sort of robe.

"Uh, Janitor" Tak managed to say with a week grin.

"This building doesn't have a janitor"

"Fine, I'm the health inspector"

"Wrong again"

"I'm this buildings ghost."

"I don't care who you are you're not supposed to be here" The man reached down to his belt and brought up a radio. "This is Ray on the 6th floor, we have a-"

In one lighting fast move, Tak smacked the gun into the air and quickly threw a chop into Ray's throat. Ray let out a startled cough and dropped the radio and clutched his throat. Before he could recover, Tak dashed forward and slammed his foot down on the man's knee, and he promptly fell to the ground. Tak backed up and neatly caught the gun in his hand and aimed it at Ray's head.

"Talk" He said in a low voice.

"Bwargackack"

"Oh yeah forgot about that" Tak walked forward and kicked him in the face hard enough to knock ray out. He wouldn't be getting anything from him. Next to him the radio crackled to life.

"Ray? Ray? Hello?" There was a slight pause "If this is whoever took the phone from Callen's body, if you turn the phone in, we'll let you walk."

Tak didn't rise to the bait, but instead stomped on the radio, crushing it. He then reached towards his belt and threw two poke balls. His Glaceon and Umbreon appeared in a flash of light. His Glaceon immediately dropped down into a fighting stance, facing towards the body of Ray, while his Umbreon tried chasing her tail.

"Umbreon quit it, ok you two lets go" He started dashing towards the stairwell he had just come from, his two Pokémon running behind him. He was angry now. He was going to storm the building and find out who the hell had called him about this place and strangle her. Although he disliked fighting, preferring a more investigative approach, he wasn't naive enough to not train. He jumped down the stairs until he heard voices coming from the second floor entrance. He stopped and listened.

"-morons have already let one person escape, you better not make it two." This voice carried an air of authority, he must be the leader.

"So what if he has his cell phone, there's no way he can trace these events back to us, we already got rid of the body" Came another voice.

"I DON"T CARE" The first voice raged. "FIND HIM AND PRY THAT PHONE FROM HIS COLD DEAD FINGERS"

Tak had heard enough, he jumped into the room followed by his Glaceon and Umbreon.

"FREEZE SUKKA, YOU'RE UNDER…….arrest." Standing in the room were at least thirty of the robed men. Hands slowly reached for poke balls. Tak stared at the assembled army, and the army stared back.

"oh…..shit" He jumped backwards "Glaceon, ice beam the floor!" His small blue Pokémon jumped into the air and fired a blue beam out of his mouth. As the beam touched to the ground, ice began to form in large chunks. Some of the robed men's feet where frozen as well, preventing them from moving. As if on cue, they all started throwing poke balls.

"Time to go you two" Tak yelled at his Pokémon. His previous dream of storming the building had died when he walked into the room. He spun around and dashed back into the stairwell and started running downstairs. His best chance was to use frozen floor as a distraction to get outside and hopefully lose his assailants in the thunderstorm.

He practically dove down the stairs until he made it to the door for the first floor. Not even stopping, he ran into the old wooden door and practically knocked it off its hinges. He found himself in a lobby area, but the two things that caught his attention were the doors outside, and the robed man standing in front of them. The man quickly threw two poke balls, and a Zangoose and Manectric materialized.

"Zangoose, Use fury cutter on the Umbreon. Manectric, thunderbolt on Glaceon!"

The Zangoose's claws started to glow as it ran towards Tak's Umbreon, while the Manectric glowed a bright yellow as it charged up electricity. Tak did not have time for this.

"Umbreon, Hyper beam it in the face! Glaceon, close the distance and use ice fang!"

As the Zangoose dashed towards Umbreon, Umbreon was starting to charge up a small ball of energy. She waited until the cat ferret Pokémon was closer before she jumped forwards and shot a powerful beam of energy at its face. The Zangoose flew backwards and slammed against the wall. On the other side of the room, the Manectric had unleashed the bolt of electricity towards Glaceon, but he was already moving quickly in a zigzagging path. Quickly the electric Pokémon tried adjusting its aim, but Glaceon was already bringing down a blue scythe of energy. It quickly floored the Pokémon.

Tak grinned and began running towards the doors, but the robed man tried blocking his path.

"Umbreon, Confuse ray!" Tak's Umbreon jumped in the air and its eye began to glow a dull purple. The man's eyes lost focus for a second. Umbreon landed and stared at him as he spun around and promptly run into wall. His moonlight Pokémon let out a small giggle.

With his path clear, Tak dashed through the doors and into the rainy streets of Delta City.


	5. Welcome to the Boat

Chapter 5

"I'll admit this op has its strong points" Kite said while leaning on the railing of the deck.

Sange sipped his margarita "You only say that because of what you're wearing". Kite silently agreed. He was wearing a red tropical shirt that was open to expose his chest and stomach. Farther down was a white and orange tropical swimsuit. His hair was currently tied into a pony tail and his eyes were concealed behind a pair of aviator sunglasses. More than once he was given a approving glance from a passing girl. He hated that.

"Good point, Southlanders aren't too keen on beaches" He turned his gaze towards the boarding ramp. Even from three hundred yards away he could make out the faces of everyone that was assembled. Ash still hadn't shown up. And in two more days the boat would be leaving. He sighed and stretched his arms. He had spent the last three days cooped up on the ship waiting for him. And even though the tropical weather was good for his soul, he was still restless.

"Jeez how long does it take for him to get here"

"I thought you didn't want to meet him"

"Yeah I don't, but I would rather be doing something instead of waiting around all day"

"Have a margarita?"

"You know I hate alcohol"

"I know, but it would give you something to do"

"How about I throw you overboard and see how long it takes for you to swim back"

"How about I rip out your spleen, throw it into the water, and time how fast it takes you to find it"

"How about I…" Kite began to say but a voice cut him off.

"Can't I leave you two alone without being worried one of you will kill each other?" Kite turned to see a tall man that looked just a tad older than kite walk towards him.

Kite smiled and walked towards him "I would only worry about that if Sange get's drunk". He shook the man's hand.

"Good to see you Kite"

He slapped his "unofficial" partners back "you too Dean. I trust everything went well over in Kanto?"

"Perfectly. But what about you Kite? Haven't seen you since Aeryn Bay months ago, and suddenly I find a mission dossier in my lap about tracking some kid. Whatever happened to small talk partner?"

"Went into a barf bag…among other things, the night I tried flying with Zach" He grinned.

"Ouch, I remember it felt like someone was giving me rug burns in my tract after that little episode"

Kite laughed. Out of the tiny, tiny, tiny group of people that Kite trusted, Dean Kidon was probably the only one he could call a friend. It wasn't a friendship that was born from laughter or common interests. It was a friendship that was born from the fires of battle. If the shit hit the fan during one of Kite's operations, Dean would be there covering him all the way.

"So about this mission…" Dean began.

"What about it?"

"….your babysitting a kid"

"So what?"

"You're the least qualified to do this…."

"Hey, I may hate making new friends, but I can probably pull this off"

"Did you bring C4?" Dean asked suddenly.

"Yeah, why?"

"You're the only person in the world that would bring C4 to a mission like this" He said laughing.

"You never know when you need C4…plus this kid could be part of the advent"

Dean looked at him for a moment and sighed. "Kite, if you spend 5 minutes around this kid, you're going to wonder how he manages to put his underwear on every morning without causing a international incident. He's dense, in a lot of areas. And I mean the important ones. Trouble seems' to follow him around like Sange to booze and it gets to the point that he usually dives into danger head first"

"How do you know all this?"

"I met the kid four years ago when I helped with security for the Wallace cup"

"Will he remember you?" Kite asked. If he did it could present a problem.

"Not him, but one of his friends might. I only talked too…..what's his name….he had no eyes…"

"He had no eyes?"

"Well of course he had eyes….but you couldn't see them?"

Sange giggled "Invisible eyes?"

Dean reached over and slapped Sange in the back of the head.

"Gahhh….yes boss". Sange only partial respected Dean, but respected him none-the-less.

Kite picked up a folder of all the information he had on Ash Ketchum, including known associates. He flipped a page before he found what he was looking for.

"Brock Takeshi?" He said.

"Yeah that's him. I talked with him about his journeys during the contest. Seems like a nice guy"

"hmm, I haven't really looked through his known associates yet…..Lesse….Dawn Berlitz, Misty Kasum, Gary Oak, Tracy Sketchit, Max maple and……"

"Kite?" Dean asked him. Kites hands started to shake a little, but quickly it stopped. But Sange had seen it.

"once second guys" he muttered.

Kite closed the file and looked back towards the ocean, thinking. Behind him, Sange and Dean started talking about the finer points of Northern beverages. He closed his eyes and thought about the picture of May Maple.

_Brown hair, blue eyes….her face looks almost the same_

He shut it out of his mind and looked towards the dock again. He had more important things to do than think about his own past. If there was one think he was good at doing, it was shutting it out. Always putting it behind some door in his head.

He sighed and turned around "Dean, do you think you can figure out what the weather will be in the Corridor? I really would like to be prepared in case a squall comes up"

Dean turned away from Sange and gave him a look that said _want to get rid of me all the sudden?_ But nevertheless, he did it. "Sure thing, I'll go find a PC" he began walking away "See you later Kite, I'll catch up to you in the evening".

Kite watched his friend go, and then he jumped up and sat on the railing. He let out his breath, closed his eyes and let the sea breeze caress his body. Although he loved the harsh and rugged southlands, there was something about a warm sea breeze and a sparkling ocean that made him relax. He loved the ocean. He loved it's beauty during its calm periods, and its power when a storm came. The ocean was something that almost demanded respect. Not to mention, he loved fishing.

He could practically feel Sange's eyes boring into his skull. Without looking at his Lucario, he spoke.

"A problem?"

"What the hell was that a second ago?" He said in voice that sounded like care and anger had a head on collision. Care was in the motorcycle, while anger was in the eighteen -wheeler.

"What was what?"

"You know what 'what' is, your hands were shaking"

"It was nothing"

"Kite, I've never seen you lose control like that, what's going-"

Kite turned around and took his sunglasses off. Sange stopped talking and shuddered. He hadn't put on his contacts today, deciding to rather keep his sunglasses on, revealing his natural eye color. No matter how well anyone knew Kite, his natural eye color still made them shudder.

"I said nothing" He said in a low and menacing voice. It was the voice he used when he was pushed too far. Just that moment a voice yelled from the other side of the deck.

"ESPEON GET BACK HERE"

Kite and Sange looked over to see a girl with black hair chasing a small light purple feline like Pokémon across the deck. In its mouth was a large straw hat. Sange stepped forward blocking it's way. The girl caught up too it and picked it up.

"Come on girl, I know you like my hat, but my neck burn's easy" She sighed and turned to Sange.

"Thanks"

Before he could answer, Kite cut in. He didn't like it when people found out Sange could talk, but it did nothing to Sange's ego except poke it with a large stick. He hated it when Kite did that.

"Just hold onto your hat more miss" He said. She smiled and placed it back on her head. The large yellow hat stood out against the color of her dress. Next to him, Sange elbowed him in the side. Hard.

Kite doubled over.

"Umm are you ok?" The girl asked.

"Yeah…ow…err, just make sure you hold onto your hat more Miss…?"

"Kiri"

"Yeah, well, Nice meeting you and all but I'm in the middle of something"

"oh" Kiri said, she looked slightly let down "Well I'll leave you too it" She turned away with her Espeon "Cio!"

As she walked away, Sange turned his attention back to Kite.

"Kite, I know it was the picture of May that made you shutter, I was watching you"

Kite slowly turned towards Sange again; luckily his glasses were back on.

"Are you just trying to piss me off again?" he said. Just then his phone started to beep. He took it out of his pocket and flipped it open.

"Hello?"

"HEY KITE?" Screamed Dean from the other end. Kite jerked his ear back. Tropical music was blaring from the speaker, and he could here others.

"Yeah?"

"JUST WALKED PAST THE DOCK'S AND SAW ASH AND HIS FRIENDS"

"How many friends?"

"BROCK AND TWO OTHER GIRLS"

"Alright thanks dude, you get that weather report?"

"NO BUT I'M WORKING ON IT"

"alright, see you later"

"YOU GOT IT, now let me tell you ladies the time I-"Click.

Kite managed a small grin. He knew personally that Dean wasn't a ladies' man, but he could when he wanted to be. He usually went out and had a good time before traveling to the southlands.

"Our target is here" Kite said simply. Sange gave a bark of approval, their previous argument forgotten now that their mission was moving forward.

"Are we going to go meet them?"

"And say what? 'Hey can we be friends?' I don't think so. I have t find something I can use to get closer to him"

Sange said one word "Beer".

"This is the north, drinking age is 21, and Ash is 18"

"BUT!!! Once in international waters with the intent to travel to the Southlands, The drinking age then becomes 16! Everyone wins; you can even let May drink!"

"Sange, I'm here to become their friend, not teach him what a hangover feels like."

"I'm just saying it can be plan B"

"Plan B involves using C4 to blast our way outta the ship"

Sange shrugged. Kite sighed and passed him a pair of binoculars.

"give me the who's who"

Sange hopped onto the railing and trained the binoculars onto the boarding area. He kept looking around until he found what he wanted.

"Ok, Found Ash" He said. Kite pulled out a small notepad and pencil. "Spiky hair, Blue bathing suit, sandals, black T-shirt and green backpack" As Sange said all of it, he wrote it down on to his paper.

"Ok who's he with"

"Looks like, Brock, Dawn and May"

Kite reached forward and tanked the binoculars from his hand. "Hey!" he said.

Kite ignored him and focused on Ash and his group. They were patiently waiting in the boarding line, talking amongst themselves. Brock was looking through some pieces of paper that Kite assumed to be tickets. Dawn was telling Ash a joke that he apparently didn't get because he wasn't laughing. And also listening, wearing a long blue skirt with a bikini top and white over shirt was May. Kite had secretly hoped that she wouldn't be coming.

Sange tapped him on the shoulder.

"What?" He said without taking his eyes off the binoculars.

"I think I'm going to go make your job a lot easier"

"How so" Kite said absent mindedly.

"I'm going to go introduce myself to them, buh bye!" Sange walked away.

Kite kept staring through the binoculars, but he suddenly jerked his head up.

"Oh crap!" He took off running after Sange. "SANGE YOU'LL CORRUPT THEIR POOR INNOCENT MINDS!!"


	6. Ash and Co

Chapter Six

"Wow I think this is the most luxurious ship I've been on." Ash said while observing the multiple decks, water slides and pools.

"There aren't many ships that head to the Southlands that aren't cargo ships. This passenger liner is making the last trip between the North and South before the storm season shuts down travel for a few months." Brock said.

"It gets bad enough to prevent travel? " Brock nodded and he hoisted his bag onto his shoulder.

"Oh I can't wait to see our rooms, I hope there's a balcony so we can go outside and see the ocean." Dawn said from beside him.

"That would be awesome, we could see the moon over the ocean" May said.

"Well then enough talk, let's go find our rooms!" Ash said, picking up his bag. His Pikachu hopped up onto his shoulder and the group began walking.

May and Dawn noticed all the chairs around the pool.

"Oh May, we can get our tan here before we get to the south!" Dawn explained.

"It's a weeklong boat ride, why not" May said "I have been getting pretty….white"

"yup and then we can-" She was suddenly bumped into by a passing Pokémon. She lost her balance and fell over, right into a pool.

"Dawn!" May yelled. At the sound of her voice, Ash and Brock turned around to see Dawn surface from the pool.

"MY HAIR!" she managed to yell.

"Uh oh" Ash and Brock both muttered.

"Pika pika..."_Someone's going to get shot_

Dawn pulled herself out of the water and looked around angrily for the person who had Pokémon who bumped into her. In front of her, a Lucario was standing with his arms crossed.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" She said to him.

Beside her, Ash was looking at the Lucario "cool! A Lucario" he exclaimed. The Pokémon shot him a single glance before turning back to Dawn. He opened his mouth, yet instead of a growl or barking sound, a soft, yet robust voice began to speak in slightly accented English.

"In my country, it's considered a crime to bump into someone." He said in a voice dripping with menace.

Ash, Brock, Pikachu, May and Dawn stood rooted to the spot. Even Dawn wore a confusing expression.

"It talks?" Ash said.

"It talks talks…no telepathy" Brock muttered.

The Lucario was staring at them like they we're retarded.

"So I can talk, quit staring at me like I have three heads"

Dawn recovered the quickest. "Why did you knock me into the water?"

"I don't like blue hair" He said simply.

"YOU HAVE BLUE FUR"

"I also like being a hypocrite"

Dawn looked like she was about to strangle the Lucario. But before she said anything else, the Lucario was suddenly tackled to the ground.

"I swear to god! Remind me again why I don't keep a leash on you and tie you to a tree while you're out of your ball." Kite yelled while he pinned Sange to the ground. Sange managed a grin.

"Is it because of my infallible charm?" Sange then whispered something so that only Kite could here him. "I just made your job a whole freaking more easier, you owe me"

Kite let out a sigh of disgust and got off Sange. He turned to the very confused group of teenagers.

"Umm…yeah sorry, Sange here has an attitude problem or two…dozen." He said. Kites heart was pounding in his chest. He really did not want to be talking to them yet. Ash was speechless, Dawn and May seemed to both be focusing on his washboard abs, only Brock seemed to have his wits about him.

"That's ok, each Pokémon has its own personality. But I'm surprised by the fact that it can talk"

Sange frowned. "The 'it' you're referring too has a name, and it's Sange"

Brock muttered an apology. Next to him, Dawn was done gawking at Kite's body.

"Still, did you have to knock me into the water?"

"Yes."

Before Dawn could launch into another explosive rant, Kite pulled a poke ball from his belt and quickly returned Sange.

"Your Pokémon…has a lot of personality" May said.

"Everyone does lass, it just comes down to if you find it annoying or not" Kite said. "My Name is Kite, glad to meet you guys."

"I'm Brock"

"Dawn"

"May"

"Ash, and this is Pikachu"

He turned towards Dawn, "Sorry about Sange tossing you into the Drink, I'll make it up to you. He reached down and picked up Dawn's suitcase that she had dropped. "Guess I'll escort you to your rooms, where you staying?"

Brock pulled a ticket out if his pocket "Deck C, Room 55"

"We'll I'll be, your right across the hall from me." Feather probably set him up for this he thought. He let Brock lead the way and Kite walked next to Ash.

"So Ash, what brings you to the Southlands? It's not the world's best vacation spot"

Ash shrugged his shoulders. "Little this, little that. Planning to train for awhile down there. What about you?"

"I live there, Delta City is my home"

"I may be wrong, but are you from Kanto originally?" He asked. Kite narrowed his eyes, but his sunglasses hid his reaction from Ash.

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"I'm from there too, I recognized your accent." Kite smiled, not many people noticed his accent.

"Yup, born in Saffron, Didn't expect you catch that" Kite almost added the word 'kid' to the end of his sentence. But caught himself as he remembered Ash was only a four months younger than him. Ahead of him, Brock opened a door that led to a stairway. The group made their way down until they found themselves in front of room 55. Brock inserted a key and the door opened.

"Oh great" Brock muttered. There were only two beds on opposite sides of the room. Worse yet, there was no balcony or window.

"Guess two of us are going to sleep on the floor" Ash sighed.

Kite turned around and walked to a door on the opposite side of the hallway.

"Nonsense, you guys seem nice enough. Ash, Brock, you two can take the spare beds in my room. I'm only traveling with one of my friends and those other beds are taking up space" He unlocked the door and walked inside.

"Wow thanks Kite!" Ash said and he followed him in. Kites room was laid out much like a house would be. There was a central den area and a kitchen in the middle of the room. On both sides of the room, were doors that led to individual bedrooms.

From behind him, Dawn saw what she was looking for.

"SWEET! You have a balcony!" She immediately dashed past Kite and threw open the sliding glass door that led outside.

Kite walked over to his couch and dropped Dawn's bag. He gestured to a door on the right side of the room.

"I guess you two can sleep over there in that room." The two of them thanked him and walked into the rooms to put their stuff down. Kite turned around to get a drink from the kitchen, but found May staring at him with an odd look in her eyes.

"May?" He asked her. Her eyes snapped open and a small blush formed at her cheeks.

"Sorry umm…I like your ponytail" She said, and then she quickly turned away and went outside with Dawn.

Kites hand twitched. Before he could do anything else, the door to his room burst open. Dean walked through with a margarita in his hand.

"Damn Kite, Let me tell you something about Lily Cove hospitality and- Brock?" He said. The squinty eyed man had just walked out of his room. He looked at Dean one moment before laughing.

"Dean Kidon, I thought you were still out running security for the Wallace cup" He walked forward and shook Dean's hand. Ash looked at the two of them.

"You know him Brock?"

"Yup, met the ladies man back during the Wallace cup. We talked a bunch between matches"

May walked over. "Oh joy, now we have two Brocks running around"

"Ha, I've been way more successful than Brock over here miss.."

"May"

Brock turned to Kite "you two are traveling together?"

"Yup, Dean over here is my best friend"

"Well talk about coincidence" Brock said. He walked over and sat on a table and was promptly followed by Dean. The two of them started catching up. Ash was over talking with Dawn and May while his Pikachu was in the middle of exploring his room. He smiled.

"guess Sange did make my job easier"


	7. Kite and May

Kite flew out of his bed covers and unsheathed the knife he had under his pillow. His entire body was covered in sweat. He was breathing heavily. He looked around and saw nobody was in the room with him; even Dean's bed was empty. He looked at the clock and saw it was eight in the morning. He dropped the knife and tried to control his breathing.

_The nightmares have been getting worse. They feel more real each and every time._

There was a knock on his door. Kite sighed, pulled himself out of bed and walked over to the door open it.

He opened it up to find a very concerned looking May. Over the past two days the girls had usually used Kites room instead of their smaller room to hang out in.

"What's up May?" He said while trying not to look her in the eye. He failed miserably.

"I heard you yell…you sounded in pain"

_I yelled in my nightmare? That's new_

"I uhhh…fell off my bed" He lied.

"Oh, well since you're up, would you like to head to the gym with me? I hate working out alone, usually Ash goes with me, but I think he still has a hangover from last night." Kite grinned at the memory. That guy could not hold his alcohol for crap. He looked down at May again. Part of him was telling him to slam the door in her face. The other half of him was telling him not to hate someone based on who they looked liked. That side one.

"Ok sure, let me get changed" He flipped on the light to his room, Giving May a better view of his face. She gasped when she saw his eye color. His entire Iris was snow white with tiny flecks of grey. As she focused on it, she suddenly thought that his eyes could have been carved from diamonds. Kite quickly closed his eyes.

"Sorry" He managed.

"Kite your eyes are..." May started to say.

"Look you're not the first person to tell me my eyes are unsettling"

"…beautiful" She finished. Kite opened his eyes and looked at her. He could tell she was telling the truth. She smiled.

"I've never seen eyes like that, you shouldn't be ashamed."

Kite stared at her.

_The way she said that….it's almost like..._

"Kite are you ok?"

"What?"

"There's a tear in your eye"

Kite jerked his hand up and felt a wet stain on his cheek. He quickly wiped it off.

"It's umm…I've never been told that" He lied. May smiled.

"Well I think you have pretty eyes"

Kite smiled. It was a genuine smile.

"Thanks May….I'll be out in a moment."

A few moments later, Kite came back out dressed in shorts and a plain T-shirt.

"Shall we?"

May smiled and began walking but she noticed something about Kite

"Why are your eyes blue now?"

"Contacts, not everyone likes my eyes" He said in a tone that also told May to drop it. May shrugged and opened the door. The two of them began walking down the hallway.

"So when do you think Ash is going to wake up from his hangover?" May asked.

"Hell if I know, he passed out after only one margarita"

"But didn't Sange spike his drink with whiskey?" May was still getting used to the talking Lucario. He usually spent his time making sarcastic remarks to everyone or was out getting drunk in some part of the ship.

"I don't have a clue what he did, but the point still stands that Ash can't handle his booze"

"What about you?"

"I hate alcohol"

They arrived at the gym and Kite pulled open the door for May. They Ships gym was a large open room with a running track and small soccer field. The room was deserted, except for A man and Pokémon in the middle of the soccer field.

"Is that Dean?....fighting a Blaziken?" May said. Kite looked over and sure enough he saw Dean sparring with his Blaziken. The two of them walked closer towards them. May looked a little concerned.

"Isn't sparring with him kind of dangerous?"

Kite laughed "The two of them spar all the time, and for all of Blaziken speed and power, Dean still has the upper hand"

May gave him a quizzical look "How does that work?"

Kite gestured to the two of them "Watch young lass"

Dean was in the process of staring down his Blaziken. His Blaziken was crouched down in to a fighting stance, yet he was still taller that Dean. Dean was standing with his arms at his side. Quickly his Blaziken launched towards him and unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks. May's jaw dropped as Dean, without even moving a foot away from were he was standing, dodge every blow effortlessly.

"Show off…" Kite muttered. "Now May, watch closely, you're about to see something very few have seen"

"What?"

"Shh, just watch"

Blaziken jumped backwards but then quickly pulled back his fist to ready a massive strike. Blaziken's fist shot forward. May almost let out as a scream as it descended towards Dean. In a single quick move, Dean held up a single finger in the fists path. The next part caused May's jaw to drop as Blaziken's fist connected with his finger. She had expected for Deans hand to practically crumple under the force of the Fire Pokémon's fist.

It stopped its fist in the air. Even more, Blaziken appeared to be in pain. Dean smiled, backed away and bowed. Blaziken did the same.

"Good try my friend, but you still have much to learn"

"Blaze.." The Blaziken then let out a sound that could have been a sigh. He sat down and started to massage his knuckles.

"WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?" May yelled. Dean spun around took one look at May and got angry.

"KITE!"

"Yeah?" He said in a voice that was laced with amusement.

"WHY DID YOU TAKE HER DOWN HERE WHEN YOU KNEW I WAS TRAINING"

"I didn't know you were training"

"SHE SAW ME USE FOCUS!" He yelled pointing at May.

"Focus?" May asked dumbfounded.

"You we're practicing in a public place, quit getting all angry about it" He turned to May "Deans a martial artist, what you just saw must not be discussed to anyone"

"Ummm…I don't think anyone will believe me anyways" She said managing a small laugh. "But can you tell me what just happened?"

"Nope, I don't even know how to explain it, Dean keeps to himself about it" Kite looked over at his friend who was busy talking to Blaziken.

"Don't you have a Blaziken?"

"Yup, He was my first Pokémon, Started way back as just a Torchic. We've both grown a lot since then" She said with a smile. "I originally didn't want anything to do with Pokémon…but that changed quick"

Kite walked over and sat down on a bench, May sat next to him.

"What changed it?"

"Well when I started traveling with Ash he showed me what it was all about and how to care for your Pokémon…"

"Sounds like Ash really helped you out"

May seemed to blush for a moment "well yeah he did…"

Kite smiled. He was actually enjoying his time with May. In contrast to what he thought would be a relationship built on Kite not looking her in the eye and avoiding her every chance he got, it was quickly becoming a fast friendship.

_Maybe I was wrong judging her because she looks like Gene…_

Time to bring on the embarrassment shit-storm, He thought to himself.

"I'm glad he helped you May, sounds like you two would make a good couple"

May just stared at him for probably half a second or two.

_5…..4….3….2….1….hey look she just evolved into a tomato……wait….uh oh._

"WE ARE NOT A COUPLE" She screamed. Kite covered his ears as the vocal tornado crashed over him.

"Who's not a couple May?" Came a voice from near the door. The two of them turned around to see Ash with a pair of gym shorts and a plain basketball jersey on. May turned a deeper shade of red, much to Kites surprise. He had at first thought she was just turning red from anger…but he know thought it was from something else…

May started sputtering complete nonsense "I uhhh…well see, here…uhhh…workout with kite and durrr….umm….Ahhhh" May would have continued if not for someone else entering their conversation. Someone with a large yellow straw hat.

"Hey Kite; I haven't seen you down here before" Kite turned to see Kiri. She was wearing a long white dress that reminded him of a Gardevoir. In fact it could have been an exact copy of what the psychic Pokémon wore.

"First time I've come down here" He said smiling. Beside him, May had managed to return her face color to normal.

"Oh wow! I love your dress!" She exclaimed and moved forward to get a closer look.

"Thank you, Designed it myself. It's mostly for contests but I use it in the tropics because it's made out of light material"

"You're a coordinator too?" May exclaimed.

Kiri adjusted the hat on her head "Yup!"

Kite and Ash watched as the two of them transformed from a 'random stranger' phase of a relationship, to 'best friends forever". Only teenage girls have been able to master that forgotten art. They began talking about everything from Contests, Pokémon, dresses and even Kiri's hat. Then out of the blue May turned towards the two boys.

"I'm going to go top-deck with Kiri for awhile" She quickly grabbed Kiri's arm and began to run off. Kiri waved good bye and ran with her. It was quiet for a few moments.

"What the heck just happened?" ash said.

"That….is what women do Ash…..don't question it…that way lies madness"

Ash shrugged and picked up a towel, he threw it over his shoulder. Kite looked around.

"Hey Ash, fancy a few laps?"


	8. Spud Helps Out

"Look Takuma, I don't know what to tell you, but the police found absolutely nothing on that rooftop, and I mean nothing" Spud said from across the table.

"Damn it Spud, I know what happened, I was nearly killed!" Tak said angrily. The brown haired journalist sighed.

"Tak, I believe you, but I'm just telling you the facts. Nothing, no body, no robed people, no signs of battle, nothing. They combed the entire city block and only found a bunch of homeless lighting a dumpster on fire"

Tak rubbed his head and looked out the window. For once it was actually sunny outside and he could see the Aeryn bay stretch out north towards the deep ocean. He looked back at Spud. Spud, his real name was Jake, was the man he always went to when it came to information. Being a journalist for Delta City's main newspaper, spud had developed a knack for tracking down bits and pieces of information and sticking them together. And even then, his talent with a camera was legendary.

"I mean nothing dude. I asked around and nothing was happening in that area at that time"

"I guess they covered it up.."

"Are you even listening to me" Spud leaned forward "there is always something happening somewhere. The fact that nobody, and my good sir, I mean NOBODY knows anything about that place on that night makes me concerned"

"So there was a major cover up?" Tak said emphasizing the word major.

Spud nodded. "From what you described, it sounds like you need some heavy shit to move everything out of there"

"So we're talking something big?"

"Something bigger than a simple lower city gang. You said they we're all dressed in the same clothes?"

"Yeah"

"Then at least we know their organized. That's also bad news. From what I've gleamed working with you, those people are the most dangerous."

"Anyone with a gun can be dangerous Spud"

"That why I work with a newspaper" spud looked at his empty cup "I'll be right back"

They we're standing in Jake's pup. Nobody was inside except Tak, Spud and Jake. Everyone was outside enjoying the sunny weather. Spud went over to Jake and got a refill on his soda.

"Anything on that cell phone I gave you?" Tak asked. Spuds eyes lit up and he smiled.

"Hell yeah, I was waiting for you to ask" He pulled out a folder.

"That number? The one listed as Contact, was actually a Fax number"

"What? That makes no sense…"

"That's what I thought. Until I traced the last call made. As soon as I did you wouldn't believe what I found"

Tak waited patiently. Spuds grin couldn't get any bigger.

"It's actually a web key that allows access into a private server"

"Ok….now you're making almost no sense. Why would a phone have a fax number that's actually a password into a private server? And why is this all on the last call made?"

"You're still thinking like-"Spud took the phone Tak had given him to analyze out of his pocket and laid it on the table "-this is still a phone"

Tak folded his arms "Spud, I've seen this brand of phone before." He turned around "Jake! Let me see you cell!" From across the room, Jake pulled out his phone and threw it towards Tak. He caught it and put it next to the other Phone. They we're identical.

"See?"

Spud smiled. "Watch." He pulled of the first cell phones case, revealing a streamlined circuit board. Then he took apart Jake's phone.

"Hey!" Jake yelled from across the room.

"Cool your jets Jake, give me a second." He pulled off the case and showed it to Tak. The differences between the two we're huge. The first phone looked like it had several dozen different microchips and many of the parts we're silver. Jake's was just a single dull looking chip-board.

"We'll I'll be…" Tak muttered.

"This" He indicated the phone "is defiantly not a phone, this thing is a handheld computer in disguise. Your dead man was either very rich or had some powerful friends."

"How rich and how powerful?" Tak asked, examining the inside workings of the mini-computer.

"I could be wearing golden boxers if I sell this" He said sarcastically.

Take thought for a moment. These seemed to be powerful people he was dealing with. First the whole cover-up, then this piece of hardware.

"You mentioned something about a private server."

"Yeah, I managed to access it for about twenty seconds before the computer I was using was choked to death by some weird virus."

"What computer?" Tak asked.

"A public computer Tak, You don't dick around in something like this with something that can be traced back to you. Needless to say the owners of the internet café down the street are going to be very pissed off when they find what happened"

"So please tell me you found something in those twenty seconds"

Spud pushed the folder he had laid out over towards Tak.

"I couldn't grab any of the text files; some weird format almost crashed my computer. The images on the other were in normal JPEG format. I managed to pull photos from the last six days" Spud also flipped open a notepad he was carrying.

"I also managed to track down a purchase someone who had access to the server made four days ago. A boat ticket from Lily Cove Harbor to Port Hope"

"for when?"

"Boat left port yesterday. I'll bet my month's salary that someone on that boat is connected to this incident"

"It's out at sea, nothing we can do about it; now let's look at these photos"

Tak flipped the folder open and was greeted by a large print out of the dead man Tak had seen. He turned the page and found some pictures of random hieroglyphs. He kept browsing until he found something else. A picture of a spiky haired teenager.

"Spud who is-?"

"Ran it through the servers and found nothing" he answered.

"He doesn't exist in the server?"

"That or, much more likely, he's not a Southlander. I couldn't access foreign databases."

Tak looked at the kid's picture, he corrected himself, he looked only to be a year younger than him.

"So we have a picture of our dead guy….and a picture of a unknown…could this be a hit list?"

"I don't know Tak, all I know is something big is going down with all this hardware and anti-intrusion software I've found. You've hit something gold"

"Spud I don't care if this makes a good story or not"

"Yeah I know, I'm in this for the story, but what about you? Sure you got shot at and stuff…but you really have no stake in this..."

Tak put down the file, closed his eyes and thought. Spud was right, he wasn't being paid and this was an incredibly dangerous thing he was getting into. But he still had a reason.

"This man…died for a reason I don't know about. But I sure hope it was something worth dying for." Tak pointed at the picture of the teenager. "I don't know who this kid is, but he could be next. Hell I could not even be involved, just the picture of a random kid. But if there is a slim chance that he's the next target, then wouldn't you do everything in your power to save him?"

Spud eyed him for a moment, and then shrugged.

"I'll never understand you"

Tak laughed and looked outside at the sunny weather.

_Wait….sunny weather….It's only sunny when it's hell on the ocean.._

"Those tickets we're for Port Hope correct?"

"Yeah why?"

"We'll they leave from Hoenn, they need to skirt the lost islands and go through the Riptide Corridor, Right?"

"Yeah, what are you getting at?"

"Spud, it's sunny outside"

"Oh….whoever's on that boat is promptly going to wish for a bigger boat"


	9. Stormfront

**Authors notes**

_Hello my readers welcome to the world of the Southlands! It really is a rush to be writing something such as this. Now that that's said, it's time for you to figure out who's who_

_Kite- Based off me, right down to the hair and eyes  
Tak (Takuma)- Based off my friend  
Dean Kidon- Based of my best friend  
Kiri- Based off –wingsofRain-  
Zach- Based off Ash Ketchum from Bulbagarden Forums  
Sky- Based on one of my friends  
Willow-Based on one of my friends  
Sange- Based off……well….idk_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon…but boy if I did….**_

_**Line of periods separates sections.**___

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  


**UNABLE TO ESTABLISH CONTACT.  
TRY AGAIN Y/N?**

Zach let out such a long and vulgar string of cuss words that made Sky who was standing beside him almost drop his coffee.

"I take it you can't get a word toward him?" He asked. Zach turned around and gave the commando a look that could have moved mountains.

"I've tried EVERY frequency; even SAT-COM can't get a fix on his radio." Zach turned towards his computer and pressed a few buttons. A weather map of the riptide corridor was brought up on his screen. Sky leaned down to take a a closer look at the thick red line that was heading north across the ocean. Zach pointed to an area just north of the storm front.

"That's where the boat SHOULD be at this moment, but I have no way of confirming it." He then pointed at the angry red line that represented the storm front. "As far as we know, if the keep their course, they'll be headed into a class A clusterf**k." Sky shrugged and took a sip from his drink again, but Zach could see the look of concern for his fellow commando in his eyes. He knew how bad a Southlands ocean storm was.

"Any chance you can get a aircraft in there to evac him?"

Zach gave him another look "And what? Leave one-hundred and fifty other passengers on that ship?" Zach sighed. "Even if I wanted to I would still have to fly through hellfire and brimstone to get their…I hate to say it, but Kite's on his own."

……………………………….

"Ha-ha! Come on ya yellow rat! This is my court baby! I AM GOD past this line!" Sange said as Ash's Pikachu dribbled the orange basket ball with his tail. In front of him, Sange was doing some weird thing with his feet in an attempt to throw Pikachu off his game. Pikachu wasn't having any of it.

He looked to his left to see Ash being blocked by Kite. No matter what his trainer did to try and get into the open, Kite seemed to anticipate his move and block him. In front of Pikachu, Dawn was attempting to get in the open, but Brock was tall enough to block her too. With his teammates being blocked, and Sange in front of him, he had nowhere to go.

"Ahhhh that's right! You be screwed now!" Sange said confidently. Pikachu grinned, gave Sange the one finger salute and made his move. Using his small size, he smacked the ball with his tail so it went under the Lucario's feet; Pikachu dashed around him, recovered the ball and moved down court.

"NOT IN MY COURT!" Sange roared and dashed after the small yellow Pokémon, but he was already several feet away. In front of him Kite quit guarding Ash and ran towards Pikachu. Pikachu knew from his time with Kite, that he had incredible agility. Pikachu was probably the only one who noticed because he sometimes watched for the signs a person (or a Pokémon most the time) would display such as the way they walked and their seemingly inability to lose balance no matter what position they we're in.

Pikachu knew he couldn't beat Kite the way he beat Sange. So he smacked the ball over Kites head and into the arms of his trainer. Ash immediately made a dash towards the goal, but Kite realizing his mistake, ran back towards Ash. Ash took one look at Kite.

"Pikachu! Dunk!" He yelled. Ash threw the ball towards the basket. Pikachu then turned around towards Sange and proceeded to jump on his head.

"What the frig?" He let out and tried to swat him away, but the yellow electric mouse was already flying towards the hoop. Pikachu arrived at the same time as the ball. He flipped around in the air and smacked the ball with the flat of his tail, sending it into the basket. He landed on the ground and pointed towards Sange

"Pika pika Pikachu!" _THIS IS MY COURT NOW._

……………………………..

"Tell me I don't have sweet ass moves don't you…" Sange grumbled as Kite, Ash and Brock walked out of the showers. Dawn was still busy in the women's showers, and knowing her, she would be there for a long time. Brock waved goodbye to Ash, Kite and Sange and went out to find Dean. The two of them had become inseparable. Kite looked over towards Sange and blinked four times in rapid succession. It was their silent code that meant to back off, but stick close enough to listen. Sange gave a tiny nod and walked over to a window.

Kite sat down and motioned for Ash to do the same. The raven haired boy gave him and odd look and complied.

"So..." Kite began "Are you going to tell me the real reason why you're heading down to the southlands?" Ash seemed to shrink a little under Kite's words.

"I already told you…"

"Bullshit, you and I both know the Southlands is not a training spot, if you wanted to train you would have hit up the survival area. And besides, I can tell when a person is lying."

"I wasn't lying-"

"Or telling the whole truth." Ash deflated and looked down at his feet. Kite could tell he was feeling ashamed. Help came from the Pokémon on his shoulder.

"Pi!" _tell him._ Ash had been around Pikachu enough to tell what he was saying, at least most the time. Ash sighed and looked Kite straight in the eye.

"Yeah I didn't tell you the whole truth." He admitted. Across the room, Sange straightened up. If there was a single mention of anything thing even remotely close to the advent, Ash would be floored in an instant. Kite let Ash continue.

"You might not know it, but I won the Sinnoh Pokémon league" Ash said slowly. Kite already knew this, but he faked a half surprised expression.

"Well I won the league….but I didn't expect all the publicity." Ash seemed to shudder. "We would be constantly hounded everyplace we would go, the paparazzi seemed to want a new icon, and I was apparently their best choice. They gave me absolutely no privacy. And when there was nothing to report on, they began making things up, horrible things"

"You don't have to do into details." Kite said. He could tell the pain and disgust that was etched on the trainers face was real.

"Then Team Galactic decided that if they capture me, they could use me as a ransom…..me, Pikachu, Brock and Dawn we're hounded all throughout the region. Even when we back to Kanto, they wouldn't stop….when May came to visit us one weekend, she was almost taken by them."

"Are they still chasing you?"

"No" An confused look came over his face. "They just stopped one day…one day they we're chasing us around, the next they were gone." Kite probably knew why that happened. After all, he had shot Cyrus from half a mile away in the head. Ash sighed.

"I guess you can say the real reason we came down to the southlands, is because we've wanted to get away from it all…."

Kite smiled and put his hand on the younger mans shoulder.

"I'm glad you told me the truth Ash, as your friend, I have your back 100% on this"

"Thanks Kite" Ash said smiling. Pikachu let out a small squeal of happiness. From across the room, Sange let out a small sigh of relief. At least Ash wasn't part of the advent…as far as he knew. He sighed and looked out the window.

_There was a storm coming_

………………………………

"It's getting kind of windy out here Kiri" May said as she watched her friend try to keep her large yellow hat on. Even though they had become good friends over the past few day on the ship, she still had no clue why she wore that large straw hat. But she had to admit, she had been around her and that hat enough to admit that without it, Kiri wouldn't be Kiri.

The Sootopolis City native sighed as she tried to hold her hat down as the sudden gusts of wind tried to blow it away. She clamped both of her hands down on it.

"It's fine May" She said smiling.

"But what about your hat?"

Kiri laughed, "This hat has survived worse, and if I lose it, I won't have my full outfit for the Southlands open Pokémon contest!"

May sat up straight so fast that she could have been launched into the air if gravity was just a little off. Her sapphire eyes stared intently at Kiri. The slightly older trainer gave her a confusing look.

"What?"

"THERE'S A POKEMON CONTEST IN THE SOUTHLANDS?" May said, her voice rising several octaves.

"Of course there is…I thought you knew about it?"

May was starting to get excited, as her face was turning a slight shade of red.

"No I didn't! I knew there was no Pokémon league, but I also thought there we're no contests!"

Kiri gave her a look of confusion. "But I thought…that you wanted to come down to the Southlands for the Contest? I mean, you are a coordinator like me..."

"I had no idea.."

"Then, if you don't mind me asking, why are you going to the southlands?"

Instead of answering, May was silent for a few seconds, and then a tiny, almost invisible patch of red formed on her cheeks. Any other person wouldn't have noticed, but Kiri wasn't just any other person. She smiled as she saw her friends face. Although she didn't know what May was thinking, she could have probably guessed.

"Are you thinking what I think your thinki-"Kiri paused and looked past May for a moment? May followed her gaze and looked across the ocean. For the past day, the clear sky and almost perfect weather they had been experiencing was slowly getting worse. The overcast sky had given the ocean an almost gunmetal grey color and the waves we're slowly getting bigger, but not large enough to interfere with life on the ship. Kiri was staring at a line of clouds that looked like a solid gray wall that extended to the heavens.

"What?" May asked. She wasn't familiar with ocean weather like Kiri. Kiri had learned how to read the ocean as she had lived in Sootopolis City.

"That cloud formation….I think it's a…." Kiri stopped talking and shot up like a rocket.

May grew suddenly scared at the way she was acting. Kiri suddenly pointed at a grey line on the horizon. May look at it.

She blinked.

The line that Kiri was pointing too was slowly getting larger. May was about to ask what it was but Kiri let out a loud yell that caused everyone within earshot to jump.

"ROGUE WAVE!" Kiri grabbed Mays arm and the two of them took off towards the closest entrance. But Kiri and May both knew that they wouldn't make it in time. May looked over her shoulder and saw that the previously small grey line was now a huge wall of water that was almost as tall as the ship itself. She took one look at the grey wall of water and ran faster.

………………………………….

Dawn had just came out of the shower room and she waved at Ash and Kite. The two teenagers waved back towards her. Kite leaned towards Ash.

"Does she always take this freaking long?" He murmured.

"Yeah, but you get used to it."

"You must have the patience of a saint Ash" Kite said. Dawn heard this and laughed.

"Ash?? Patient? Where is the real Ash Ketchum and what have you done to him?" she joked. Ash put on a pouting expression.

"Hey I can be patient…" Everyone, including Pikachu stared at him. "…ok only in some situations…" Everyone continued to stare at him. "Ok I can-"He would have continued if Sange hadn't yelled from near the window.

"HOLY CRAP, INCOMING WAVE!" Dawn and Ash looked at Sange with confusion. Kite also looked at Sange, they had been in calm waters so far, but then he noticed that the floor was slightly at an angle. Slightly was an understatement of epic proportions as the floor suddenly tilted down towards the direction of the bow. Dawn struggled to gain her footing but remained standing.

"That wasn't so bad" She said after a second. But Kite knew otherwise, Waves don't cause the bow to drop. He had been on enough ships in his life to know what was about to happen. Something very big was coming.

"COVER YOUR HEADS." He yelled. Kite grabbed Ash and Dawn and threw them on the floor. Both let out startled sounds of surprise as they landed. Not wasting anytime, Kite threw himself on top of the two and used his arms to cover their heads. Pikachu, who seemed to sense what was coming, held on to his trainer's shoulders.

The floor suddenly tilted upwards at a very steep angle. A groaning sound could be heard from some part of the ship.

"What the?" Ash managed to let out as the four of them began sliding across the floor. Kite quickly managed to grab a hold of a bench that was welded on the floor. He quickly grabbed both Ash and Dawn, Ash with his free hand and with Dawn he held her with his legs.

After what seemed to be several seconds the floor's angel returned to its flat state.

Dawn let out a sigh of relief and began to try and get up. Kite slammed her back onto the ground with his legs. Dawn gave him and angry look.

"We're not done yet." He said. As if on cue, the floor began to tilt the opposite direction. The group slid around until they we're pinned against a wall next to the bench. Kite swore. If there was anything loose on the floor, they could be seriously injured. Luckily, the room that connected the Gym and showers to the rest of the ship had only some benches that were attached to the floor.

Within the span of a few second, the floor returned to normal. Kite let go of Ash and Dawn and got up to check on Sange. The aura Pokémon was already on his feet looking out the window. Kite could see no trace of whatever had hit them, but he did notice the cloud formation in the sky.

"Crap, Squall line" Kite said. Ash, Dawn and Pikachu joined the two of them.

"Squall line?" Dawn asked.

"A Squall is short, but heavy windstorm" Kite explained. "typically happen at sea, we're in one right now."

"How short?" Ash asked. The floor was beginning to tilt in random directions as the boat was starting to get rocked by large waves. It was becoming an effort to keep their balance.

"In any other ocean, probably less than half an hour…"

"But this is the Southlands" Sange finished. Outside, rain was beginning to fall and the waves we're increasing in number and ferocity. The floor was becoming very unstable.

"We need to get back to our rooms, now" Kite said. The group began walking towards the door. Sange walked up to Kite and hit the poke ball on his belt, returning himself.

"Why did he do that?" dawn asked.

"He get's motion sickness." Kite answered. He opened the door and pulled the two through it. They we're having trouble walking, continually being flung to one side of the hall to the other. Kite groaned, he sometimes forgot not every person was as agile as himself.

"Stick to one side of the wall." Kite said. The two of them grabbed a hold of the sides and began cautiously advancing along the wall. Kite could tell the storm was growing worse be the minute, they needed to hurry up. After a few minutes of being knocked around, they finally made it too the rooms. Ash reached towards Kites door.

"No not there!" Kite yelled. Ash looked at him. "That room has multiple windows, if we get broadsided all that glass becomes shrapnel!"

"Oh crap your right!" Ash exclaimed.

"My room then?" Dawn yelled. Kite nodded. She lurched over to the opposite door and pulled it open. The three of them dashed inside. Brock and Dean we're already there. They had already moved all the loose items into the closet, leaving only the two beds and a dresser in the room. Kite looked at Dean and noticed there was blood coming from a cut on his arm.

"What the hell happened?" Kite asked him.

"Freaking rogue wave blew out all the windows" Dean said rubbing his arm. He had tied a cloth around the wound. "One moment me and Brock we're talking about Pokémon breeding, next, hell decides to take a dump in the ocean."

Brock spook next, his voice had a small tremor in it.

"The window near us was there one moment, the next thing I knew, there was a loud bang and Dean was hauling it out of the room with me."

Dean looked up at Kite "Did you get a look at the storm? We haven't been near a window."

"Yeah, it's a squall."

Dean cursed.

Brock suddenly jumped up.

"Where's May?"

…………………………….

_She couldn't see anything_

_She couldn't feel anything_

_She could only hear the dull roar of an angry sea god. She could only see darkness. She felt cold. Her entire body was cold. It pierced her soul. Her chest felt like it would explode. The darkness was becoming darker every passing moment. She was having trouble remembering her name._

_I'm May Maple_

_She saw faces looking at her._

_A short child with a green shirt smiled and laughed at her. He was holding a poke ball in his hand. He seemed to be crying tears of joy._

_I'm May Maple_

_A tall man with dark skin handed her a plate of some delicious smelling food._

_I'm May Maple_

_A Green haired teenager smiled and handed her a rose, it smelled very nice._

_I'm May Maple_

_A girl with blue hair walked forward and shook her hand. There was cheering in the background, but she didn't care/_

_I'm May Maple_

_A spikey haired trainer grabbed her by her shoulders and said something to her. She couldn't here him, but her heart began to pound._

_I'm….who am I again?_

_Just when the darkness began to choke her, a hand reached out to her and grabbed her own._

……………………………….

"HANG ON MAY I GOT YOU" Kiri Screamed into May's ear. The girl managed to open her eyes. She then proceeded to cough up water. Kiri held her closely, relief all over her face.

"You almost drowned May!" She said. Kiri quickly embraced her. May tried to clear the fog in her head. She remembered the huge wall of water crashing down on the ship and their mad dash towards the door inside. May pushed herself away from Kiri.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Well we didn't make it inside…The wave nearly swept us overboard" Kiri said. She indicated where they were. May saw that they we're in the ships outdoor pool, but all the water was gone. She also noticed it was raining heavily and she could hear the wind whipping around above them.

"We got lucky, both of us were swept into the pool, but you almost drowned." Kiri said. May looked at her. Her dress was ripped in multiple places and she could see some bruises on her arm. Miraculously, her hat seemed to not have a single scratch on it.

"Can we get inside?" She asked. Kiri sighed.

"It's a gale out there May, set a foot out there and you will get blown away."

"We'll at least we're safe here…"

Kiri looked down at her feet.

"What?" May asked.

"in the southlands…Each storm has an average of four rogue waves…if another one comes, we can get swept out to sea…."

……………………………………….

"I'm going to find her" Kite said standing up. Dean immediately stood up.

"Are you crazy? She was on the outdoor deck, its suicide to go out there"

"I'm still going." Kite said and began to walk towards the door.

"Why?"

Kite stopped. Dean was right. He was here for Ash, not his friends. He had no reason to go out and risk his life…

"_Your eyes….their beautiful..."_

He thought about everything May and him had said and done while together. He thought about how she looked like someone from his past and how much of a friend she had become.

Friend….

_I don't have any friends…I have myself….I don't need friends_

Another voice popped into his head.

_Not anymore wise guy. You have friends now. Go and act like one_

Kite smiled and turned towards Dean and the rest of the group.

"I'm going because I want too." And with that he dashed outside. He had gotten ten feet when he heard someone behind him. He turned around to see Ash and Pikachu.

"Go back Ash." Kite commanded.

"May's my friend too Kite" Ash said firmly. Pikachu agreed. Kite saw the look in Ash's eye.

The eye of a man who was willing to give up everything to save someone.

"Alright, let's go then."

The two of them dashed down the corridor. Ash was keeping up but almost lost his footing several times. Kite grabbed his shoulders to help his balance. The waves where still getting worse. They were running up, down and at angles constantly. At some moments the two fo them would get thrown into the air by a particularly violent wave, sometimes causing them to hit their heads on the ceiling.

_The shit is really starting to fly outside._

They got to a small atrium that led to a pair of glass doors that allowed entrance to the main deck. Ash began to run towards the doors. Kite stayed back a second and noticed a large dot speeding towards the doors.

"ASH DOWN!" Kite yelled. He dove forwards and pushed ash out of the way. There was a large shattering sound as a deck chair lodged itself into one of the doors. Tiny shards of glass covered them and they could hear the howl of the wind through the opening the chair made. It sounded like a hundred trains where driving past their ears.

They stood up and brushed the glass of themselves.

"Wow…it's bad out there" Ash said. Bad was an understatement, as heavy rain and wind blew across the deck as if an angry sea god was directing it himself.

"You wanted to help kid, so let's do this." Kite said. He looked across the deck for any sign of May. He suddenly had an idea. He threw one of his poke balls out and with shiny blue Gardevoir materialized.

"You have a Gardevoir?" Ash said. He sounded more interested in his Pokémon than the situation.

"Focus Ash" Kite reprimanded. Ash looked ashamed. Kite turned towards his powerful embrace Pokémon. Moon was looking at the storm.

"Moon use future sight, find May."

Moon bowed and closed her eyes. She began to softly chant.

"gar…gar…..gar…" Her natural voice was far different than her telepathic one. Her telepathic one reminded him of a flirty teenager that was still in high-school. Her real voice was just plain weird.

Slowly, images began to materialize in the air in front of her. Ash and Kite watched intently. It showed May and Kiri holding onto each other in some sort of bowl.

"That's a swimming pool!" Ash exclaimed. He rushed towards the class window and looked out. He then pointed a pool that was about one hundred yards away from the door. Kite grinned and was about to return moon when suddenly the scene she was projecting changed. It showed May and Kiri being swept out of the pool and into the ocean by an incredibly large wave.

"Oh balls…" Kite muttered. Ash saw this and let out a yell.

"MAY!"

It showed may struggling for a few moments underwater. Her actions were becoming slower and slower, until she stopped moving completely. Her eyes seemed to go blank. Moon immediately stopped the using future sight, but the damage was done. Tears we're flowing from Ash's eyes.

"She's dead….she's dead…" He was saying. Pikachu was trying to tell him something, but he wasn't listening. Seeing one of his best friends die had forced his mind off the deep end.

Kite walked over and slapped him in the face.

Ash immediately stopped crying and looked at Kite with an angry expression.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"

"She's not dead yet, but she will be if you don't pull yourself together. Future sight only shows one POSSIBLE future. Now we need to act now or both those girls are going to die."

Kite stared into Kites eyes. There was a hardness Ash hadn't seen before in them. He quickly clamped down on his racing emotions and nodded to Kite. Kite smiled and looked out the window.

"There is no chance in hell either one of us will be able to make it through there without being blown away. We need a heavy Pokémon to get out there. Ash who in your team is the heaviest?"

Ash suddenly looked embarrassed.

Kite sighed. "You don't have any balls do you…"

Sange suddenly let himself out of his poke ball.

"THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID! WOOOO!"

Kite and Ash both contemplated strangling him right then and there. But Sange laughed and got back into his ball. Kite sighed. He had wanted to keep one of his most powerful Pokémon a secret from ash and everyone, but he didn't have a choice. He threw a blue covered poke ball up into the air.

……………………………………..

"I don't think anyone is coming…" Kiri sighed. May looked at her normally optimistic friend.

"Don't worry…I'm sure someone is coming. Ash and everyone know where I am."

"They also know that a massive wave probably swept across the deck, throwing everything off the boat." Kiri said glumly.

A tear began to form in the corner of one of her blue eye.

"Never thought It would end on the ocean…I spent my whole life within sight of it…and now.."

"BAROO?" Came a loud roar from above them. Both May and Kiri jumped and looked up.

A large orange Pokémon with green wings was staring at them both. There was a huge smile of happiness on its face.

"A DRAGONITE?" they both yelled.

"Baroo!" the large dragon Pokémon said back to them, it slowly crouch towards the ground and held out both its paws toward them.

"I think it wants us to…" May began.

"Save us!" Kiri finished. She crawled towards the orange paws of the dragon and grabbed a hold of one. May did the same with the other paw. The dragon Pokémon then hoisted the two girls up and held them close to his chest.

As soon as they got above the pool, the wind and rain hit them both like sledge hammers. Mays hair immediately began slapping her in the face and her bandana flew off her head. She felt a pang of regret. She had worn that bandana for years. Kiri on the other hand, had her hat firmly planted on her head as if some magical force was preventing it from moving.

The dragon Pokémon began a slow and difficult journey back towards the entrance to the inside of the ship. Several times he nearly slipped on the slippery deck when a large gust of wind kicked up. But he held the two girls close and continued to walk. Finally he made it to the door and barged in. The Dragonite dropped the two girls who promptly fell to their knees.

"MAY!" May looked up and saw Ash, Pikachu and Kite. Ash immediately ran towards May and hugged her. May suddenly gasped. Ash had never soon this much affection to her before, or anyone for that matter.

"I thought I lost you" Ash said. It sounded like he was crying. May was too overwhelmed to say anything. After a moment, Ash let her go and helped her up. There was no sign of a blush or anything on his face, just a face full of relief.

Beside them, Kite helped Kiri up.

"We thought you two got swept off with the first wave." Kite said.

"We came close to be, luckily we only got swept into that pool." Kiri said. A few moments ago she had been awaiting death, now she was safely inside. Words couldn't describe her happiness. She turned towards the Dragonite who was standing behind them.

"Thank you so much" Kiri said. The Dragon Pokémon gave a short bow and smiled.

"Baroo."

Kite pulled out a poke ball. "Thanks for the help Journey, I would keep you out, but we need to go deeper inside and I don't think you would fit." The dragon nodded his head and was returned in a flash of red light. Kite turned towards the group.

"Ok now it's time for us to get down to the room's an-"The four of them where suddenly thrown into the corner.

The second rouge wave had hit, this time on the port side of the ship. Water swept across the deck like a cleansing flame, decimating anything that was still on the deck. The door blew open and a wall of water descended towards them.

"RUN" Kite screamed. If they were caught in the flood that was heading towards them, they could get killed. Ash and may immediately jumped to their feet, ignoring the odd angle that the floor was in, and took off towards another door down the hallway. Kiri tried getting up, but quickly fell down. Kite saw that her left leg was bleeding.

Without pausing, he quickly scooped her up and began dashing down the corridor. Ash and May we're already far ahead of the two and past a set of heavy doors, Ash spun around and closed one door and began yelling at Kite to hurry.

The path had dozens of debris on the floor, giving it the look of an obstacle course. That, along with the constantly tilting floor, and the girl in his arms, made the corridor have the words "trip" all over it. He knew if he tripped, he and Kiri would be swallowed by the water. Hey would have to play this perfectly.

Dashing forward, he leaped over a overturned bench and slammed his feet down, not adjusting his balance; he dashed over several pieces of a broken chair. His thoughts began to drift to what his old master had taught him.

_You can always fly over the ground instead of running_

He jumped towards the wall and kicked towards it. The action sent him over a fallen palm tree. He landed it perfectly.

_The air around us is more than just empty space, it is a stepping stone_

He jumped several times in quick succession over some tables

_It comes down too if you believe you have more than just feet_

The floor suddenly tilted downwards and Kite planted his feet and used it to slide forward several feet. He ducked under a poll while sliding.

_All you need to do is spread your wings that you have, forget the fear that you have in your heart._

He jumped forward after the floor tilted a different angle and ran full speed towards Ash. Kiri held onto Kites neck tightly.

_Start running…and then just..._

The last obstacle was in his way, two benches had fallen on top of each other. He had only one shot. He jumped forward once and, with his muscles straining, jumped again into the air. Time seemed to slow as he flew into the air. He could hear his heart beating. He could hear the wall of water coming towards him. He could see Ash and May staring at him, cheering him on. He could see Kiri, her face buried in his arm.

He cleared the benches.

Almost falling at the landing, he dove through the door. Ash and May slammed in closed behind him

…_Fly…._


	10. Disaster at Sea

_**Wow, I really enjoyed writing the last chapter. But I keep forgetting to fix my grammar my bad yawl. Oh yes, I also need to establish everyones age.**_

_**Kite-19  
Ash-18  
May-16  
Brock-24  
Dawn-14  
Jake-20  
Tak-19  
Kiri-17  
Sky-22  
Willow-25  
Jake "spud" flasher**_

_**Although it's not a full list, you can probably get the basic idea. **_

_**Now for this chapter, half of it takes the form of a newspaper article. This chapter is supposed to be very very very short.**_

_**Remember to review everyone!  
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. **_

**DISASTER AT SEA  
**Article by Jake Flasher

_Earlier yesterday, the Southlands National Coast guard began a search for the missing passenger liner, the S.S Cameroon that was lost in a major storm two days ago. The passenger liner that originally departed from Hoenn earlier last week went missing during the storm in the riptide corridor. It's destination was Port Hope._

_Many people believed that ship had been sunk, with all hands missing, because of the violence of the storm. Several fishing vessels reported the presence of rogue waves and multiple squall lines. A coast guard buoy located in the corridor had, at one time, a gust of wind that topped over two hundred forty five miles per hour._

_In the aftermath of the storm, all attempts to reach the Cameroon we're unsuccessful, so in response the Coast guard launched a search and rescue operation to find the fate of the ship. After a day of searching, the ocean liner was found, several hundred miles off its original course. Sources report that the ship had sustained heavy damage and several people we're missing. With its engines nearly destroyed, a coast guard vessel towed the ship to the closest harbor, 30 miles south to the port of Savo, the Southlands easternmost city. _

_A spokesman from the coast guard confirmed that 22 passengers and crew are missing out of the 150 people that we're onboard._

_The coast guard has confirmed they are…._

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………_.._

Tak swore and put the paper down and looked at Jake.

"Told you you wouldn't like it." The bartender said.

"There is no freaking way I can get to Savo this time of year, the Aeryn Mountains pass is closed." Tak drowned a shot of whiskey. He coughed as it went down, burning his throat in the process. When he was angry, he took the hard stuff. He looked outside at the city. It had started to rain again. It had only been sunny for one day.

"Looks like our little mystery is on hold" He muttered.

……………………………………………………..

**Told ya it's short.**


	11. Meditation

_**AUTHORS NOTES  
**_

_**Ok, this chapter will be full length lol.  
Lot's of shipping hints in this one. Including one I made up.  
HiddenEyesshipping- MayxKite  
Yeah I know it sounds dumb, what are you going to do, write a letter? Bwhahahaha  
**_

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Worst….boat ride….ever" Sange said.

"This is the first time I actually agree with you." Said Dawn.

Kite, Ash, May, Dawn, Kiri, Brock and Dean all sat on the Pokémon centers balcony and stared at the battered ship that had carried them to the southlands. They had finally been able to set foot on dry land earlier that day, all of them happy that the nightmare was over.

"That was probably the scariest boat ride I've ever been on." Ash said.

"What about the S.S Anne Ash?" Brock asked. That boat had gone down to the bottom of the sea, taking Ash and his friends with it. Ash glanced at May, who was looking out across the ocean, but only for a second.

_It's nothing compared to that, I watched my friend die…._

"Ash?"

"oh umm…I was young then…I guess I didn't know fear that well." He lied. He didn't want May to worry about what he had seen from Moon's future sight. Before they had gotten into port, Ash had asked Kite to keep what they had seen a secret. Kite agreed, he had been having problems himself. Although he didn't say anything, Ash could tell he had been troubled by something. What he didn't know was Kite was trying to understand why he had risked his life for the girls.

But they had bigger problems.

"Guys I really think we should take it easy for today and tomorrow." Brock said and the group looked at him. "I mean, we're in a pretty sorry state…"

Kiri's dress was still ripped up from when the storm had first started. She had several bruises and long cut along her leg. Kite had done his best to clean and dress the wound, but she still had trouble walking. May also had some torn clothes, and her bandana was gone, lost at sea. Ash was fine physically, but his mind was still struggling to recover from what had happened. Kite could see he had a somewhat odd stare, characteristic of emotional trauma, he would have to keep an eye on him. Dean had several cuts from flying glass, but he had been through much worse, he had the scars to prove it.

"I think we need to change first…no point looking like we've gone through a war." Kite said. Everyone agreed, but May looked a little sad. Ash saw this and went over toward her.

"What's wrong May?" He asked. May looked at Ash's auburn eyes and sighed.

"Nothing…I just lost my bandana." She straightened up. "Doesn't matter…should be more happy I survived." Ash wasn't convinced that it "it didn't matter." He gave May an intent look, she gave him a look of slight confusion. May held his gave for a moment then walked away with the rest of the group to go change.

"Are you just going to stand their looking like any idiot?"

Ash turned around and saw Kite smiling at him.

"What?"

"If you want to make her happy, then go make her happy." Kite said. Ash looked at the slightly older blond haired, ponytail wearing man. He still didn't know what to make of Kite. He seemed to be full of surprises. But he had practically saved May and Kiri, so that made him a friend. Thinking of what happened, he couldn't help remember the incredible display of agility he had put on while carrying Kiri when the second rouge wave hit the ship and threatened to swallow them.

"How do I make her happy?" Ash asked. At the moment, he really wanted nothing more than to make the brown haired girl smile. He wanted her eyes to lit up in happiness.

_Blank eyes in the water_

He knew he was going to have nightmares from this…

Kite looked at him like he was an idiot. "You know you could go get her a new bandana…."

Ash jumped up from his chair suddenly, Pikachu unsuccessfully tried to hold on.

"BRILLIANT!" He began to dash towards the exit, "I'll be back!"

Kite smiled and watched him go. Ash seemed to remind him who he used to be, with his youthful demeanor and lack of patience.

_The old kite….another life…another time…_

Kite sat up and walked over to his bag. He reached in a pulled up a small head set that fit directly into his ear. He began to walk outside towards the beach.

It was time for business.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

"_Please state name, call sign and identifier"_

"Kite, Call sign: Hurricane, Identifier: Kilo Eight four." Kite said while looking out across the calm waters that gently lapped against the sandy beach. There was an air of tranquility about the scene that made Kite relax. The ocean here was the complete opposite of what he had experienced a few days ago.

"_Voice pattern confirmed." _There was a clicking noise as he was put through to a different channel.

"KITE, about time, we thought you might have been lost in the storm." Zach practically yelled. One of these days his ears would probably start bleeding because of Zach. If his flying didn't kill him first.

"Looked iffy for awhile out there, but I managed."

"That's great. We couldn't get a single to you for crap, the storm was blocking all our transmissions, you know how squalls are and all that yakity-yak. Willow was having a freaking heart-attack down here."

"I didn't think she cared." Kite said dryly.

"More like worried about possibly losing one of the leads on the advent, I don't think she would give a rats ass about you." Zach said laughing. He was joking of course; both of them knew Willow cared about Kite.

"So I'm guessing the brass wants an update?"

"You could say that." Willows voice came over the speaker. "First off, have you met the target yet?"

"Yes, but he's not a target." He said, feeling irritated for an odd reason. That was strange.

Kite wasn't in Delta City to see Willows grin.

"So I take it you've become friends with him?"

"Yes and his other friends?"

"Other friends?"

"Check your files, you got stuff on May, Dawn and Brock. But also look for Kiri Rainydew."

There was a pause, then Zach's voice came on again.

"There are several Kira Rainydew's all across the planet."

"Look for one with a large yellow hat."

"…………..oh"

Kite couldn't help but laughing. Kiri's hat had to be cursed or blessed to have survived the storm.

"So what do you think about Ash?" Willow said.

"Kind of clueless, not much patience, loves to eat like a friggan lawnmower, has a tendency to-"

"I mean can he be part of the Advent?"

Kite began walking across the sand, feeling the sand beneath his feet. He looked out across the horizon. The sun was slowly making its way across the sky.

_Damn it's going to be one hell of a sunset tonight_

"From what I know about him, that's a definite negative." He said absent mindedly, still staring across the water.

"Ok, but keep a close eye on him, someone managed to get into our system and take some files, one of them was about Ash Ketchum."

Kite immediately began paying more attention.

"Any idea who?"

"None just watch your back." Willow said. Kite heard Zach laugh in the back ground.

"Telling Kite to watch his back is like telling this city to stop raining."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Kite said dryly. There was a loud SMACK and he heard Zach mutter a curse.

"We'll monitor your progress Kite, Good luck, SOC (Spec-Ops Command) out."

Kite sighed and looked out across the ocean then he sat down in a cross legged position. Now that he was finished with reporting in, it was time for him to do a little soul searching.

He took a deep breath, and began to meditate.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

"I don't know buddy, I want to get her something special." Ash said holding up the plain red bandana. He had come into the clothing store with the intention of purchasing a bandana for May, but so far he was having trouble deciding on what type to buy. Pikachu pointed to another stack, this one having several different colors of bandanas, each one with an odd symbol on it. Ash looked at the symbol.

It was an eight pointed star, but the point on the bottom was larger than the others. Behind the star was a symbol of a sword over a shield.

"Wonder what this is..." He muttered to himself.

"That would be the symbol of the Southlands." Came a voice from behind him. He turned around and saw a young woman in blue jeans and a white short sleeve T-shirt. Ash almost didn't recognize her, except when he saw the large Yellow hat.

"Hey Kiri!" Ash said. During their time after the storm, Ash had gotten to know May's friend pretty well.

"Hiya Ash." She said, she then walked over and took one of the bandanas and showed him the symbol that was on it.

"As I was saying, this is the Southlands National Symbol. As you see, the star represents a compass pointing south. The sword represents the Southlanders history of being a warrior people. And lastly, the Shield represents their resilience to the elements and danger."

"That's cool, you know a lot about this stuff." He said.

"It never hurts to study Ash," She said with a smile. Her tone suddenly became playful, "I wonder why you would be getting a bandana…." She trailed off and Ash blushed.

"It's for…well uhhh, May." Ash managed to get out. Kiri almost let out a loud squeal.

"That's so sweet of you Ash!"

"eh-he.."

"Do you have a crush on her?!" She asked suddenly. Ash dropped the bandana he was holding and began to blush. Kiri laughed.

"I'm just saying!" She said while laughing as her friend transformed into a cherry.

"I don't have a crush on her….I'm just being nice." He said in a voice that even the world's most gullible man would have seen past. Kiri knew this, but she decided to let him off easy.

"Ok, I understand, need help picking one out?" She said.

"Yeah…I think I might get her the one with the southlands symbol on it, but I can't decide on the color." He said while thumbing through the dozens of colors they had.

Kiri thought for a moment. "to you, what is the most beautiful thing about May?" Instead of blushing like Kiri expected him to do, Ash put on a thoughtful expression. After a few moments he came to an answer.

"I would say her personality….but it's so unique I don't want to label it with a color….but her eyes are beautiful…" Ash realized what he said and blushed.

Kiri smiled at his words.

_Wow, he's older than me, but when it comes to this…._

She reached into the stack and pulled out a blue bandana. It was the same color as May's ideas.

"Problem solved." She said smiling.

Ash took one look at it and grinned.

"It's perfect!"

He took it to the cashier and bought it. He even paid and extra five dollars to have it placed in a small box and wrapped in red wrapping paper. He took the box from the cashier and turned to Kiri.

"Thanks Kiri, I'm going to go give it to her now!"

"Hold it! Let me get some new clothes real fast, I want to see you give it to her" She said with a smile.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

(**Authors notes, this next sequence takes place in kites mind, each different format (plain, bold, italics) is a different voice of his personality)**

I still don't know why I rescued her

_She's the closest thing to a friend you have besides Dean_

**She's not a friend, you only used her to get closer to Ash, and He clearly likes that girl**

Why do I care what Ash thinks? He's just part of a mission

_He's more than the mission_

But why? This is the first time I've seen a target in a different light.

**They're still just targets, the only difference is that one of them has the face of the person you love**

_She's not Genevieve, she's May Maple_

**Just a face**

_Just a Friend_

**Just an echo of a lost past**

_More than just a reminder_

But why did I risk my life for her. I could have sat in the room, telling myself she was swept off the boat on the first Wave

**You would have believed it**

I'm such a bastard….

_But you didn't, you got up and saved both May and Kiri_

**But what did you get out of it**

Ash trusts me…

_You saved a life_

But still, why?

_She is not afraid of your eyes_

**Why?**

I really don't know…

_Doe it really matter? She was telling the truth_

_**Was she?**_

Yes she was….

_But is that the only reason?_

She made me smile…

**You smile all the time**

It wasn't fake

**Are all your smiles fake?**

They used to be….until they showed up

_And that's a good thing…_

**Or is it? What's more important, the mission, or everyone else?**

Don't make me answer that…

**Why?**

Because I'm afraid that one day I'll know the truth, and it won't be pretty.

_What would Gen say?_

**Gens gone, does it matter what she would say?**

Of course it does…

_Then what would she say?_

She would say….

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………_._

"I think you had the right idea about the beach Kite" May said with a laugh. Kite jumped to his feet so fast, that a cloud of sand erupted into the air, momentarily blocking Kite from May's view. May jerked backwards, surprised. Quickly, the sand fell to the ground to reveal a angry looking Kite.

"Can you not sneak up on me when I'm meditating?" Kite said angrily. May stepped backwards.

"I'm sorry…I didn't know you we're meditating…I just came down here to watch the sunset and I saw you. So I came to say hi." Kites face softened. May didn't know how lucky she was, usually people that snuck up on him would find themselves either dead or inches from it.

"Sorry….I get a little jumpy when I'm meditating." He sat back down and motioned for May to sit next to him. She walked forward and sat down next to him. Her head looked somewhat empty without a bandana on it. He hoped ash would hurry up with getting her one. The two of them stared out across the water and watched the sun as it painted the clouds several different colors. It was breathtaking.

Kite looked over at May who was sitting with her arms around her legs. Her eyes betrayed a deep and far off look.

"Something on your mind May?" He asked.

"It's just….well a lot of things….why I'm here….Ash acting all weird all the sudden….it's just….well I don't know…"

"Why are you here May?"

Instead of answering, she seemed to shudder a little. Kite decided not to press into it.

"Ok what's with Ash?"

May turned to look at him. "I don't know….that's the thing….I just don't know, he hugged me after we got out of the storm….that was the first time he's ever hugged me, and then he's suddenly staying beside me and asking if I'm alright every two seconds…."

Kite sighed, he knew exactly why. He remembered his promise to Ash, but then he decided May had a right to know.

"Just before we rescued you…I had my Gardevoir use future sight to find you…..and we did" He said slowly.

"You found me and?"

"You were swept out to sea by a giant wave…..Ash watched you die….he even saw the life leave your eyes…"

"I…was supposed to die?" May said slowly, her eyes we're wide in shock.

"no no….you would have died if we didn't do anything…..we saved you…but the damage to Ash's mind was done."

"He saw me die….." May said slowly.

"To him it was absolutely real. I think something snapped in his mind, and now he want to do everything he can to protect you. He doesn't want to see….your dead eyes."

May struggled to make sense of what Kite was telling her. But after a few moments it made perfect sense. Ash now cared for her more than anyone…..

"…..What do I say to him…." She said after a moment.

"Nothing, I wasn't supposed to tell you."

"oh…well…thanks…." She said. She tried imagining what it would be like to see Ash die. All it managed to do was release a small river of tears from her sapphire eyes. Kite saw this.

"……..May." Slowly, not even sure of what he was doing he put his arms around her and held her tight. May cried into his shoulder. Kite, although he couldn't escape the feeling of awkwardness, did his best to make her feel better. He heard a voice in his head.

_I think she would tell you to do exactly what you are doing right now_

Yeah…..she would

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Ash watched from the balcony as Kite hugged May. He sighed.

_Guess it would be kind of inappropriate to give her it now…Kite seems to a good job of making her happy_

Ash picked up the red package and walked towards his room. Kiri watched him go, feeling a sad feeling in her stomach. She had also seen Kite hug May.

"Poor Ash…." She said to nobody but herself.

Outside, the sun disappeared from the horizon.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

_**Authors notes.**_

_**No action whatsoever in this chapter, sorry action junkies. But this was a shipping geared episode. What feelings does Kite have toward May. How will Ash react towards the two of them. How will May react towards Ash knowing what he saw. Questions questions questions…..**_


	12. Eyes filled with Happiness

_Kite ran through the halls of the Spec-ops command building, his heart beating faster than a jackhammer. Hit face was covered in soot and lines of sweat cave him a menacing look. His ears we're starting to hurt from the constant screaming of the fire alarm._

_Kite dashed down the corridor, dodging people who were trying to escape down the opposite direction. He was following to the best of his ability, the smoke that was starting to kill the corridor. If he could find the fire, he could hopefully help put it out and save the building from any damage._

_He turned a corner and saw smoke billowing out of a room._

_His room_

_Kite dashed inside to see a large chest was on fire. Zach was standing next to it._

"_KITE!" he yelled at him._

"_WHAT HAPPENED?"_

"_I SET YOUR UNDERWEAR ON FIRE!"_

_Zach quickly turned around and attempted to put the fire out….by throwing more underwear on it_

Kite almost jumped out of his bed. He gasped and looked around at his surroundings. Brock and Dean we're still snoring in their own beds, while Ash's was empty. Outside, the first rays of a sunrise were beginning to illuminate the harbor and beach.

Kite sighed and thought about his dream.

"That is the last time I ever have soda before I go to sleep." He mumbled.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Ash sat on the balcony railing and watched the ocean waves gently caress the sandy beach below. A gentle sea breeze wafted through the air, ruffling his black hair. The sky above him was slowly coming to life as the sun began to rise over the sea.

Ash couldn't explain why he had exactly spent the entire night tossing in turning in his bed. Around 4 in morning he decided to get up and walk to the balcony. He didn't know what was raging around his mind. He kept thinking about May, Kite, The bandana he had gotten her, Kite hugging May and the new feelings he had for May.

He sighed, a long drawn out and tiring sigh. He hated it when things got complicated. He was used to do things simple, and the only hard things that came along involved Pokémon. But that was changing thanks the Kite and May. He couldn't help thinking about May at the moment. How he had saw her lifeless body in the ocean. How he had taught her throughout her entire Pokémon journey. He remembered their countless adventures they had together, and how many times they had saved each other's lives.

He smiled at the memories, some bad, but an overwhelming amount of them were wonderful. Beside him, he saw his best friend approach him.

"Morning Pikachu"

(**Author notes: Pokémon speech will now be in italics)**

"_Why did you wake up this early? You usually oversleep."_ Pikachu said while hopping up onto the railing and looking out across the ocean.

"Sorry buddy, a lot's been on my mind…"

"_Your thinking about her aren't you?"_ Pikachu asked. The bond he had with his trainer allowed him to sometimes almost "read his mind" and tell what he was thinking. But you didn't have to read his trainers mind to tell what he was thinking about. It was almost completely obvious.

"Yeah….I am…..I don't know why all this is affecting me, but it just is." Ash said while scratching the small Pokémon's head.

"_It's kind of obvious."_

"What is?"

"_That you like her."_

"Of course, she's my best friend…" Pikachu sighed.

"_No, more than a friend."_

Ash blushed. But deep down, something told him this was true, ever since the night on the ship, he had viewed May in a different light. He originally thought it was because he had seen her die….but now that he thought about it…

"Ok….I do…" Pikachu almost felt like jumping up in the air, doing several back flips and then launching a volley of fireworks.

"_WELL THEN TELL HER!"_ Pikachu yelled at his trainer. Ash looked down at the ground.

"I don't think I can…"

Pikachu face-faulted. Here was a man who would rush headlong into mortal danger with nothing but the clothes on his back and would sacrifice himself for one of his friends, yet wouldn't tell a girl he liked her more than a friend.

"_And why is that?"_

"I think she likes Kite…."

Just at that moment, Kite walked into the Pokémon centers main room. He looked around and saw Ash and waved. Ash almost didn't wave back, but Pikachu poked him. Kite was dressed in nothing more than a pair of swim trunks and sandals. In his hand he was carrying a large wooden staff. Smiling, he walked out of the Pokémon center and away from view. Ash turned to Pikachu who just shrugged.

"_Anyways…You've known her for years Ash…Kite has only been around for a couple of days."_

"But you still see the way the two of them look at each other…"

Pikachu sighed. Ash was right, May always seemed to be around Kite the most. But Kite always looked at her oddly, as if she wasn't there, but there at the same time. It was an odd look, but one that made Kite happy. Kite was still an enigma to Pikachu, for some reason every time he was around him, he felt as if the man was hiding some huge secret.

"_Will that stop you from at least trying?"_

"I don't know….if they like each other then I don't want to stop them…"

Pikachu and Ash both knew that was a major lie.

"_Liar."_ Pikachu said simply.

"So what if I am, there's nothing I can do about it!"

"_Just go tell her!" _Pikachu pressed. He momentarily considered shocking him, but decided against it.

"No….She won't listen, I doubt she would care enough to listen in the first place to talk to me about it."

Across the world, fate sometimes decided to be fickle about the way it acted. Some might say that the universe had a sense of irony. Something was about to happen that would cause Ash Ketchum to agree.

"Hey Ash…" Ash turned around and saw May leaning on the side of the entrance to the balcony. Her hair was down and gently moving with the breeze.

_I really never thought about her this way…but she is very beautiful…_

"Ash?" May asked.

"Err what…?"

"_You where blushing…."_

"Oh…ummm sorry, what do you need May?" He asked. May walked over to him, and before Ash could do a single thing, she hugged him. Ash almost fell off the balcony while Pikachu looked on in confusion.

"Ummm…May?"

"Yes Ash?" She said while hugging him.

"Why are you hugging me?"

At any other time, May would have laughed, but this was not one of those times. May sighed and took her arms off Ash's shoulders. The older boy was blushing and giving May a weird look.

"I know what you saw from Kite's Gardevoir." She said bluntly. Ash groaned. This was the last time he would ask Kite to keep a secret. He decided to try and play it off.

"Ummm….it was nothing." That was defiantly the wrong thing to say. May's eyes started to tear up. Ash mentally slapped himself.

"No…it wasn't nothing…."

_Time to go with the truth I guess_

Ash got off the railing and stepped towards May, He took one of her hands and held it tightly.

"I…watched you die May….It was the most horrible experience in my life, just watching you die, and feeling like I could do nothing." Ash shuddered. "I think I realized that moment how much I cared for you that moment as a..." Pikachu held his breath "…friend…"Pikachu sighed" …but you are one of my best friends May; now I realize how precious you are…"

May was crying, but instead of sadness, they we're tears of happiness. A million dollar smile was on her face. She felt like jumping into his arms right then and there.

"Ash…I…." She started to say, but Ash had suddenly had an idea. He put a finger on her lips, silencing her. May blushed. Ash smiled and quickly ran off.

May let out a small laugh and turned to Pikachu who was watching her with a smile. She held out her hand and the electric Pokémon jumped up onto her shoulder. She smiled and scratched his head.

"Ash has really changed." She said to him. Pikachu nodded and rubbed his cheek on hers. May giggled.

Ash came running back to the balcony, carrying a small red box. He smiled and pressed it into May's hands.

"It's for you!" He exclaimed. May giggled again.

"Oh Ash what have you gone and done now." She started to unwrap the red wrapping paper, after enough was gone, she pulled the lid off the small box. She pulled out the blue piece of cloth.

"Is this…" She started to say.

"Yes"

"For me…?"

"Yes."

May let out an outrageous squeal that could have shattered glass and torn a hole in the space time continuum. But Ash didn't care, her eyes where full of happiness. And something told him that was all that mattered. May immediately examined the bandana and her eyes went to the white symbol.

"What's this?"

"According to Kiri, it's the symbol of the southlands."

"Oh cool." May looked at it for another second, then quickly put it on her head and tied it up. Ash stared at the girl in front of her. The blue bandana was in perfect contrast with her sapphire eyes.

"Well what do you think?" She said holding her head forward.

"It's beautiful on you!" Ash said impulsively. Both Ash and May's faces became hotter than Brocks spiced Magicarp fillets. May recovered first.

"Thank you." Ash looked at her smile. That was the only real 'thanks' he would need.

Pikachu looked at his trainer from May's shoulder.

"_You should tell her!"_

"Tell me what?" May asked. Ash and Pikachu both stared at her.

"You….can understand Pikachu?"

May scratched Pikachu's head.

"Yeah, but only a little, I guess we're really good friend." Pikachu smiled and let out an affirmative.

"So tell me what Ash?" She asked innocently. Ash felt like running away or passing out.

"I…..uhhh…..ummmm….." He tried to say.

_Damn it ASH! Grow some balls and do it!_

He sighed, it was time to make it or break it.

"May….I…"

Out of nowhere, Sange came running past both Ash and May and over towards the balcony railing. Before either of the two humans could say anything, Sange vomited explosively over the side.

"GROSS" Both yelled at the same time. Sange stopped throwing up and leaned on the rail. He coughed several times.

"f**king hangover…" He muttered

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Kite watched from the beach as his Lucario colored the trees below him a weird red/brown color. He couldn't help feel bad for May and Ash as they both walked away from the hung-over Pokémon. Even from a hundred yards away he could tell they were having a happy moment.

He sighed and picked up the wooden staff he was carrying and crouched down into a combat stance. His eyes scanned the surrounding area, and slowly looked over the calm ocean.

_Relax_

His breathing began to slow down, along with his heart beat. He closed his eyes and opened his other senses.

He felt the course sand under his feet and the gentle kiss of the wind

He listened to the ocean waves gently travel up and down the beach. The sound of the sea breeze echoed in his ears.

He smelled the tropical flowers that bloomed under the palm trees, their sweet scent putting his nerves at ease.

_Begin_

He slowly started moving the staff through the air, in small circles and then slowly arcing it around his body. A person watching might say he looked like he was slowly painting on a canvas that surrounded him, using the end of the staff as the brush. They wouldn't have known that it was a ritual that Kite preformed everyday for the past five years.

_Expand_

Kite suddenly came to a complete stop. He spun the staff in his right hand with blinding speed. He lifted up his left leg and slammed it down two feet in front of him so he was now crouching even closer to the ground. He then grabbed the staff in the middle with both his hands.

_Here we go_

With both his eyes still closed, he launched himself into the air, spinning the staff in almost every direction at the same time. His foot touched the ground again and he pivoted, spinning around. He adjusted his grip on the light piece of wood he was holding so it now looked as if he was using a spear. He quickly began spinning it around with a single hand, then he switched to the other. After several spins, he prepared for the final part of his daily ritual.

_Blade Storm_

HE regained his footing and began to rapidly spin the staff with both his hands. If anyone was watching they would have thought that he was using two short swords instead of a single long pole. But that was part of the illusion, so move so fast that it drives the opponent to thing about the situation differently. He was almost done and was prepared for the finishing move when he suddenly felt like he was being watched. He opened his eyes and saw a figure standing in the darkness of the forest behind him.

In one fluid movement, he spun around and threw the staff like a spear towards the tree that the dark figure was standing. The long sliver of wood flew through the air like a rocket. Then Kite got a look at the figure, it was Dean.

Dean neatly grabbed the staff before it hit the tree and slammed it point first into the ground.

"You're a little slow today." He said walking towards Kite. He glanced across the ocean and smiled.

"A lot's on my mind." Kite said simply, not wanting to tell Dean the thoughts about Ash, May and the mission in general. Dean was respectful enough not to press. The older man, though he considered Kite a brother because of the multiple times they had saved each other's lives, almost knew nothing of Kite's past or his mind. He was an enigma to Dean.

"I was talking to Brock, last night. Apparently they we're planning on heading on leaving towards Delta City tomorrow."

"Does he know the pass is closed this time of the year?" Kite asked.

"Yeah, but he thinks they might hunker down in one of the towns and wait it out."

"Well we're going with them anyways so it doesn't matter."

"What about Kiri?" Dean asked.

"Last time I checked she was also going to Delta City."

Dean smiled; he was the kind of person that liked to travel with a lot of friends. Sort of the opposite of Kite who preferred to travel alone. Kite looked over the ocean one last time. The sun was painting the clouds a brilliant yellow, orange and purple. This, combined with the reflection of the scene by the ocean, made it a truly beautiful sight.

_Nothing like seeing natures glory before the start of a journey_

He walked over and pulled the staff out of the ground.

"Come on, everyone should be up by now."


	13. The Southlands Tour Guide

"Well since everyone is traveling to Delta City, I vote we should all go together." Brock said from the front of the table. Everyone (except Sange who was still hung-over) was sitting at a long table on the Pokémon's center balcony.

"That sounds fine by me, and I want to stick with my new friend here." Kiri said looking over at May, who smiled at her.

"You guys do seem all right…whatever Kite says is my decision." Dean said. Everyone looked towards Kite, who wasn't sitting at the table, but leaning on a wall behind everyone. He moved forward.

"The southlands don't get the title of 'harshest region of the world' just because of the storms on the sea." He sat down in an empty chair next to Dawn. "You guys need a guide in the first place; this isn't like any off the other regions you've traveled through."

He leaned forward and gave every person a deep look. His blue eyes speaking from past experience.

"The Pokémon here are incredibly powerful and dangerous. There are endless forests that appear to change every time you walk into it. Towering mountains that just seem to go up endlessly. Grasslands that are prone to massive tornados and windstorms. Deserts that play with your mind and make you think your in the safety of your home, when you are really baking on its scorched floor. Massive rivers that destroy anything and everything in their way…" Everyone except Dean was giving Kite their uttermost attention.

"But…" He said with a smile. "It is also the most beautiful and amazing place you will ever see."

"Really? How can you be sure? Dawn asked from beside him. Kite laughed.

"I've seen a lot in the world lass, but this country continues to surprise me." He turned to the group again.

"I'll travel with you." He said simply.

"That's great." Brock exclaimed and everyone let out a few laughs. Brock reached down and pulled a large poster out of his bag. He put it on the table, revealing a large map of the Southlands. Everyone stopped talking and looked at the map.

"Now!" Brock began and pointed at Port Savo, which was located on the North-West coast of the Continent. "We are located here. There is only one route out of town, and it travels south towards Woods Edge." He indicated a small town that was at the edge of the Silent Forest.

"Woods edge is only a small trading post." Dean said. Brock nodded.

"We can prepare for the trek through the silent woods from there."

"What are the silent woods?" May asked.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the silent woods are what Kite described as 'forests that change every time you walk into it?'" Dawn asked.

"You are correct lass, but only in a certain part of the forest, and that's nowhere near where we are going hopefully."

"Hopefully?" Kiri asked him.

"Things usually don't go according to plan around Kite." Dean said with a laugh.

Kite ignored him. "We'll just stick to the path until we hit Palmer." He said while pointing at another town on the southern edge of the forest.

"Now once we reach Palmer, we have two choices." He indicated a route that headed south.

"This road takes us to the town of Corday. As soon as we take this route we enter the Grass sea."

"Is that like a grassland?" Ash asked, everyone stared at him and Sange came running in and smacked him in the back of the head.

"IDIOT!" He roared, but his stomach took another turn for the worse and he ran back outside.

"Anyways….it's a biological phenomenon…in any other grassland; you might find small trees or shrubs….but this is what scientists call 'perfect grassland'."

"A perfect grassland?" Dawn asked. Kite nodded.

"You won't find a single blade of grass taller than 5 inches within 400 miles." Kite said with a grin. Ash, May, Brock, Dawn and Kiri all looked at him like he was yanking their legs.

"I've been there….I've stood on top of the Grass bluff and stared out upon the endless hills of green." Kites eyes lost focus for a moment. May and Kiri noticed a strange, yet incredibly subtle look on his face. Kiri whispered to May.

"Did you see that?"

"Yeah…it almost looked like…"

"He was in love…." Kiri finished. They both turned back towards Kite who was pointing back at the map.

"Once we hit Corday, we turn east and make our way to the Middle Mountain Pass." He lifted up a finger. "BUT! The pass is closed during this time of season."

"For how long?" Kiri asked. Kite knew she and May wanted to compete in the Delta City open Pokémon Contest.

"Relax, only for two more months, I know the contest is in three." Kiri and May relaxed.

"So what about the other path from Palmer?" Brock asked.

Kite pointed to Palmer and then traced a route that followed the edge of the silent woods heading east until it hit a town on the ocean. Kite got a little bit more excited when he tapped the oceanfront town.

"This….is Leyalin…" He said in a tone that made it sound like the name itself explained everything. Apparently it didn't.

"what's….Leyalin?" Ash asked.

"It's his home." Came a voice from behind everyone. They turned and saw Sange walking back inside. He walked over and stood next to Kite.

"Are you feeling better?" Dawn asked him.

"Why do you care?" He asked the young girl.

"I don't want you throwing up on me…"

"In that case…"

Everyone jumped out of their chairs and backed off.

"….i think I'm going to…." He doubled up. Kite jumped over the table and crashed on the floor.

"…Have a spot of tea…" Everyone face-faulted and Sange sat down and began sipping from a bottle of green tea. Everyone got back in their chairs.

"So, What exactly is Leyalin, Kite?" Brock asked.

"Well, beside being the place my home is, it's referred to as the cliff side city."

"It's built on top of a cliff?" May asked.

Kite grinned, "Nope….70% of the city is underground, and the city is literally a cliff."

"Oh wow…." Kiri said.

"I have a house…or I guess you can say apartment….overlooking the ocean."

Everyone stared at him in awe. Kite grew a little uncomfortable.

"The view is nice, but the couch is a piece of shit." Sange said, still drinking his tea.

Kite ignored him and tapped a path following the ocean along the Aeryn Bay, and then the mountains farther south.

"If we take the path through Leyalin, we would then head south and then east while following the shoreline of the ocean. Once we hit the Mid Mountains, we turn south, go past the springs an-"

"Springs?" Kiri, May and Dawn said at the same time. Sange groaned.

"Ummm yeah….there's a hot springs In the mountains, I've been there once….sure it's on the side of a mountain….but you get a perfect view of the Ocean…"

"There's that look again Kiri." May whispered.

"I think he's in love…with the Southlands…"

"But both path's lead to the pass, both would require us to wait in one of the towns before the path opens." He leaned back. "I'll leave the choice of what direction we take up to you guys.

Ash immediately asked what path had the strongest Pokémon.

Dawn wondered what shops would be in Leyalin.

Brock was talking to Dean about what city had the most girls.

May and Kiri where talking about the hot springs.

Soon they all started to argue about what direction to take.

"What a wonderful group we've found ourselves in." Sange muttered to Kite.

"I think we should pass by Leyalin." Kite mumbled to his Pokémon. Sange looked at him oddly.

"I thought you wanted to see the grass sea again."

In truth, he had wanted to see the endless seas of grass and stand upon the hills and feel the wind caress his body. But he had something more important to do. Something that was personal.

"I do, but I want to see her." He said in a voice that was so soft that even Sange had a hard time hearing it. Sange nodded instantly before jumping on to the table.

"Ok! Ashy boy!" He said pointing at Ash.

"Hey!"

"Shaddap! The Pokémon in the mountains between Leyalin and the Springs are very freaking powerful! The grasslands don't have much Pokémon."

He pointed to Dawn.

"Leyalin has the Southlands National Mall. Corday….is…well….Corday."

He turned towards Dean and Brock.

"I know you don't care Dean, but I know this eyeless man does, but girls love the Hotsprings!"

He then spun around towards May and Kiri.

"Yes, The Hot Springs Freaking ROCK!" He planted both his feet on the table and lifted his finger towards the heavens.

"WE ARE GOING TO LEYALIN!"

Ash started to say they needed more time to think, but the eyes of Sange persuaded him not too.

Brock cleared his throat. "Well I guess Leyalin sounds like a good choice…" Everyone whole heartedly agreed and Sange jumped down off the table. He gave Kite a small wink. He nodded his thanks.

"So when do we leave?" Dean asked. Everyone looked towards Brock, possibly the most responsible of the group.

"Well I was thinking that we grab supplies today, then leave afternoon tomorrow." He said.

"Sounds good to me!" Ash said. Everyone started getting up from the table, getting ready to start packing.

"HOLD IT!" Kite yelled. Everyone stopped and turned towards him. Kite grinned and pointed at Ash.

"Before we leave on this journey, I want to see if you really are as good as they say." He pointed at the beach. "Me, you, Beach! 3v3!"

Ash grinned.

"You're on Kite!"


	14. Ash Vs Kite

**Well, this is going to be the first full on Pokémon battle, not like the quick battles that happened in the previous chapters. I'm talking full on combat between two powerful trainers. Hope you enjoy! Also a quick thanks to the amazingly awesome person and my Lady friend: D for some grammar tips.**

"This is going to be very interesting." Dawn said while sitting on the sandy beach. She, May, Kiri and Dean were sitting on near the trees while watching Kite and Ash get ready for their fight. Brock was standing between them as the ref.

"Well I think Ash has the advantage because he's already seen three of Kites Pokémon already." Dean said while leaning on the side of a large palm tree.

"I've only seen two of them." Kiri said.

"Oh yeah, Ash and I think May know that he has a Gardevoir. Moon is one of his-." Dean to tell the three girls, but a loud sequel came from Kiri.

"HE HAD A GARDEVOIR!!??" She yelled, causing Ash and Kite to turn and stare at her.

"I heard it was a blue one..." May said. She was quickly grabbed by the shoulders by the yellow hat wearing coordinator and was shook around by her hands. A look of mass hysteria was on Kiri's face.

"A SHINEY? HE HAS A SHINEY GARDEVOIR?" Kiri looked like she was about to explode, or run over and tackle Kite.

"Ummm….just sit and watch." Dean said with a sigh. Kiri released May from her hold and turned to watch to two trainers.

Ash stretched out a little bit and dropped his hands to his poke balls (**Sange: hehehe….balls. Author: QUIT BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL. Sange: Silence! This is my Fic!) **

"Now lesse….how to start this off…I know!" He pulled out a single poke ball and threw it into the air. There was a quick flash of light and a large green lizard looking Pokémon appeared. It stuck its chest out proudly and placed a small twig in its mouth.

"SCEP!" it roared. Ash's Sceptile looked at Kite, awaiting him to send out a Pokémon.

Kite stared at the forest Pokémon for a few second and turned towards Sange.

"Want to beat something up?" He asked him innocently. Sange looked at him with an angry expression.

"I still have a Hangover you know…"

"No you don't, you're just lazy." Sange stuck his tongue out at him.

"Does that change anything at all?"

"Go in there…or I'll tell everyone what you do in your free time." Kite said with a grin.

"OH COME ON!" Sange yelled.

"I'm serious!"

Sange sighed and walked in front of Kite and looked at Ash's Sceptile. The tall green Pokémon stared at him for a second, sizing him up. Sange pulled out his pipe and lit it up, he let out a small puff of smoke from his mouth. The fighting/ steel type Pokémon then cracked both his knuckles.

"Match start!" Brock yelled and raised one of his hands. Ash made the first move.

"Sceptile, close the distance with quick attack and use leaf blade!"

The forest Pokémon quickly dashed forward, kicking up sand behind him. The leaves on his arms began to let out a green-white glow. Kite on the other hand, instead of giving a his Pokémon a command, merely said two words.

"Good luck!"

Sange grinned and clapped his hands together, when he brought his arms apart, a large crackling staff of energy materialized. Sanges bone rush staff was his best weapon.

"Why isn't Kite commanding Sange?" Dawn asked.

Dean laughed. "You really think Sange would listen to _anybody?"_ Dawn quietly agreed.

Sange quickly spun the blue staff around his head. He let out another puff of smoke.

"LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED." He yelled and jumped forward and slammed his staff down on Sceptiles glowing leaf blade. There was a loud 'KRACK' as the energy staff and leaf crashed together. Both Pokémon grunted under the impact. Sceptile quickly brought down his other leaf blade on his other arm in an attempt to catch Sange off-guard.

The fighting Pokémon quickly spun the other end of the staff upwards and batted it out of the way. He then back-flipped away and charged forward again with his staff low towards the ground.

"Sceptile use your leaf blades again!" Ash yelled.

"Careful Ash, you don't want to play CQC (Close Quarters Combat) with Sange." Kite yelled from the other side of the arena.

Sange jumped forward and swung his staff close to the ground to try and knock out the forest Pokémon's feet. Sceptile quickly jumped over the energy staff and brought his two leaf blades down. Sange barley managed to bring his staff up to block them, but the impact forced him onto his back. Sceptile let out a triumphant yell and slowly began to force his hands down.

Sange just laughed.

"In your dreams Lizard brains." Sanges hands suddenly began to glow.

"Scep?" The forest Pokémon said in confusion. Ash also looked confused, but he kept his wits to him.

"SCEPTILE GET BACK!" Ash yelled. His Pokémon tried to obey, but it was already too late.

"Suck on my focus blast!" Sange yelled and slammed his hands forward, his energy staff suddenly dissipating. A bluish blast of energy arched out towards the green lizard Pokémon, knocking him backwards and onto his back. Sange quickly spun his legs around in the air and hopped back to his feet. He took the pipe he had in his mouth and put it into his backpack. (**In case I didn't mention it, Sange has a small grey backpack that he uses, even in battle)**

"Sceptile are you alright?" Ash asked. The green Pokémon got back to his feet and nodded an affirmative.

"Ok, we can't beat him in the close combat, so let's see how good he is at the long range game. Sceptile! Bullet seed!"

Sceptile reared up and shot two dozen or so glowing white projectiles at Sange. The blue and yellow Pokémon quickly dived to the side, dodging them.

"Try again! This time spread them out."

Sceptile fired again, this time turning his head side to side. Sange stood his ground and spun his staff in front on him. In a blur of motion, the blue staff knocked several of the seeds away, but one blasted through his defense and hit him on the head. Sange grabbed his head and moaned.

"What's with you people hitting my head when I have a hangover!" Sange moaned.

"He's off balance! Quick! SOLAR BEAM!" Ash yelled.

"Aww crikey not this."

The yellow orbs on Sceptiles back began to glow with a yellow aura as sunlight was converted to pure energy in his body. After a few seconds, he opened his mouth and a giant white blast of energy shot out and sped towards Sange. Sange quickly clapped his hands and a similar colored beam was fired out of his hands. Both attacks collided in midair, kicking dust and sand up all over the arena.

"Did Sange use Hyper Beam?" May asked.

Kiri coughed out a little sand. "Yeah he did, but why? He could have gotten the same effect with Aura Sphere."

The dust quickly settled to show both Sceptile and Sange looking a little more weaker. They both had grins on their faces.

"You're pretty powerful for an overgrown lizard…" Sange said in Poke speak so nobody would understand. Sceptile let out a noise that could have been a laugh.

"_And your pretty good for a drunk, pipe smoking, sarcastic, anti-social beer-"_

"Yeah yeah I get the picture!"

Ash too was grinning, Sange was pretty powerful.

"Ok Sceptile, let's use bullet seed again!" He yelled. White projectiles exited Sceptiles mouth and flew towards Sange. Sange quickly charged a turquoise ball in his hand and slammed it down towards the ground, kicking up a wall of dust and shielding him from the bullet seed.

"About time he used aura sphere." Dawn said.

"That was Dragon pulse, not Aura Sphere." Kiri said. She was wondering why Sange wasn't using his signature move; he could have easily beaten Sceptile already if he did.

While the dust was still in the air, Sange flew through the wall and within the blink of an eye; he was holding Sceptile by the throat. Everyone's jaw dropped.

"You're strong, but I'm stronger."

The talking Pokémon then, in an incredible display of strength, pulled the Forest Pokémon over his head and smashed him into the sand head first.

WUMPH

Sceptile fell on his back and was clearly knocked out. Sange feel on his rump and let out a deep breath.

"Sceptile is unable to battle, Kite is the winner."

Ash let out a low whistle.

"Man Sange really is strong." He started to return Sceptile to his poke ball. Just before he was sucked back into the ball, Sceptile opened one of his eyes and nodded respectfully towards Sange. Sange nodded back and gave him a thumb up. He got up and walked towards were the girls and Dean where sitting and he sat down on a fallen tree.

"Round two start!"

"Go Donphan!" Ash yelled, releasing his armor Pokémon who immediately let out a loud roar. Kite smirked, it was time to get involved in this battle now that Sange was done.

"GO AKI!" He threw out a ball and his small Cyndaquil popped out. The fire mouse Pokémon stood up on its back two legs and let out a happy squeal.

"Awww its so cuuuuuuute!" May and Kiri said. Dawn laughed and thought of her own Cyndaquil.

"Let's do this thing! Aki! Ember on the sand around Donphan!" The Fire mouse Pokémon jumped forward as the flame on its back quickly ignited and grew large. He opened his mouth and a few dozen flames shot out towards Donphan.

"Quick! Rollout and attack!" Donphan quickly rolled into a ball and flew towards the Fire Mouse Pokémon. A few of the orange flames hit the charging Pokémon, but he was able to ignore the pain as the full force of the attack went over his head.

"Quick, use dig!" Cyndaquil quickly dug a hole into the ground and disappeared in a cloud of sand. Ash groaned.

"Donphan, use defense curl, but keep on the move!" Donphan started to move in a zigzagging direction going both forward and backwards.

Kite waited patiently for a few moments.

Donphan continued to move around the field in different directions.

"LAVA PLUME!" He yelled. A few feet in front of the charging Donphan, the ground suddenly exploded to reveal a towering tower of lava (**Sange: a towering tower??? Author:…..you don't want to play this game with me right now, it's three in the morning) **It shot into the air and began to arc towards the ground.

"Donphan, Dodge it!" Ash yelled. The armor Pokémon quickly tried to adjust its course and managed to not roll into the main plume of lava. But some globs of lava still splattered across his hide. Donphan roared in pain and stopped rolling around. He quickly shook his body in an effort to remove any remnants of the burning material.

"Now! Flame-thrower, low-spread!" Kite yelled as his small Pokémon exploded out of the ground. He landed on all fours and opened his mouth.

"Hidden power to block!" Ash yelled. A group of blocks and circles formed around Donphan and flew towards Cyndaquil. Across the arena, the fire Pokémon opened his mouth and a huge plume of fire shot out. Everyone present shielded their eyes from the bright orange blast of fire.

"Good gravy that's a big flamethrower." Kiri said, using her hat to block her view of the bright flash.

There was a loud FWOOSH noise and then a loud bang. Everyone looked back at the battle.

"What the…." May said.

Aki was on the ground panting heavily, while Donphan looked only slightly scorched. Kites Cyndaquil slowly got back to his feet.

"Aki as all attack and almost no defense." Dean explained to the girls. "It's probably Kites most imbalanced Pokémon in terms of stats."

Ash, sensing victory was close, pointed for another attack.

"Rollout! Full speed!" Ashes Pokémon curled into a ball and sped towards the struggling fire Pokémon. Kite gritted his teeth; he already knew this fight would have only one outcome. Aki was simply full attack power and no defense. He really needed to work on that.

_Might as well go down swinging_

"Aki! Flamethrower again!" The flame on Akis back grew and he opened his mouth to fire a jet of fire at the rolling Pokémon.

"Go through it!" Ash yelled. Donphan rolled faster and disappeared into the flames of Akis attack. Everyone held their breath. Suddenly Aki went flying backwards into the air and landed in a heap. Everyone looked and saw Donphan, smoking and looking very tired.

"Aki is unable to battle, Ash win's this round." Brock said.

Ash jumped into the air "YES! Good job Donphan!" The armor Pokémon let out a triumphant roar before being returned to its poke ball. Kite grinned; Ash was as good as his file said he was.

"Time to finish this! GO MOON!" He yelled as he threw a black ultra ball into the field. In a flash of light, his blue Gardevoir appeared on the field and let out a small bow.

"OH MY GOD!" Kiri yelled and ran out towards Moon. She started cuircling around her, examining every feature that was on the Gardevoir while constantly saying how awesome she looked. Moon blushed.

"THIS IS SO COOL AND-ACK." Kiri was yanked back by Dean who picked her up and walked back towards the sidelines. Moon let out a small giggle and rubbed the back of her blue hair.

"Well….then, Pikachu! I choose you!" Ash yelled. Pikachu let out a yell and jumped of Ashes shoulder and landing on the sandy battleground. The two Pokémon Stared at each other.

"Final round, Start!" Brock yelled.

"Pikachu use thunderbolt!" Ash yelled. Pikachu quickly charged up electricity and fired it in a concentrated blast towards Moon.

"Counter with your own thunderbolt!" Moon held out he hands and also fired a yellow bolt of electricity. Both attacks collided in midair and created a small explosion.

"Quick attack!" Ash yelled. Pikachu quickly dashed forward and in the span of only two seconds, had crashed into Moons stomach. The embrace Pokémon let out a grunt of pain and almost fell onto her back, but she quickly managed to get back on her feet.

"Moon, CLOSE COMBAT!"

Everyone present gasped as Moon flew forward and let out a flurry of punches towards the electric mouse Pokémon. Pikachu managed to dodge a few of the punches but a single blue fin hit him in the face, knocking him backwards.

"How does moon know Close Combat?" May asked.

"It's not a true version of close combat, but I think Sange taught her some fighting stuff." Dean said.

"Why would she want to learn that?" Kiri asked.

"Her personality is like a tomboy."

Back on the field Moon went to a guard stance while Pikachu jumped back onto his feet.

"Moon, use psychic." Kite ordered. Moons hands began to glow.

"Oh boy, use Agility to dodge!" Ashe yelled. Pikachu took off at high speeds and began running in a zigzag pattern, much like what Donphan had done previously in the last battle. Every few seconds a large clump of sand was displaced as Moon attempted to grab the electric Pokémon. She was starting to frown from annoyance.

"Keep it up Pikachu!" Ash encouraged. Pikachu complied, but he could only keep moving at that speed for so long. Suddenly, a clump of sand under Pikachu was thrown upward, causing ashes Pokémon to trip. A blue aura suddenly enveloped Pikachu and he suddenly found himself suspended in the a few feet in the air. Pikachu tried to struggle, but found that the psychic force holding him was incredibly powerful.

"Moon, Hold him and use Hyper Beam!" Kite yelled.

"Oh boy…" Ash muttered, he tried thinking of a counter move as Moon adjusted her hands. A white ball of energy started to form between the two blue fin like arms.

"PIKACHU!! COUNTER SHIELD!" Pikachu quickly let out a thunder shock that enveloped him in a shield. Moon then fired a huge blast of energy that collided with the shielded Pokémon. There was a large explosion that managed to knock ashes hat off because of the wind. Pikachu went flying towards the ground, but he looked relatively unscathed. He landed on the ground and let out a confident grunt.

"_Can I just use tempest and get this over with?" _Moon said telepathically. She usually hated Pokémon battles, but when she did find herself in a battle, she used her colossal power to end the fight fast.

"_No, I don't really want anyone to know how powerful you really are." _ Kite said in his mind.

"_Then why use me? You know I can take out every single one of his Pokémon without breaking a sweat."_

"_I didn't want to use Journey for multiple reasons. Plus Sun and Brave are a tad…. well…."_

"_I understand. Want me to lose intentionally?"_

"_Knock yourself out."_

"_With pleasure."_

"Pikachu! Volt Tackle!" Ash yelled. Pikachu dashed forward as an aura of electricity enveloped his body.

"pika-pika-pika-pika-pika-pika-pika-pika!" Pikachu started to chant as it ran towards the Gardevoir. Gardevoir merely put up a small green screen in front of her. Pikachu simply crashed through it and collided with Moon.

"_YEEEEEEOOOOOOOW!" _Moon yelled as she went flying backwards. She rolled backwards a few times and fell on the ground motionless. Pikachu threw up his hand in triumph. Ash jumped into the air.

"YES!"

"Moon is unable to battle, Ash is the winner!"

Pikachu jumped into Ash's arms and the two started jumping around in happiness. Kite grinned and returned moon to her poke ball. Sange, who was watching Moon, let out a small sigh.

"You have no idea how strong that crazy Gardevoir is…you got of lucky kid." He said quietly.


	15. Everything is not what it Seems

**Last Chapters: Ash and his friends, with Kites suggestions, decided the route to take on their journey to Delta City. Kite revealed he wanted to go-to Leyalin to see "her" and that he had a house there. Kite then challenged Ash to a Pokémon battle and intentionally lost to him when he ordered his Gardevoir, Moon, to lose. **

**Author Notes: WingsofRain, the girl who I based Kiri off of, has just published her own Pokémon fan fiction, (Two halves of a whole) and I got to say, it's really really good. Like, Sange gives his thumbs up good…..so yeah…go read it or Sange will eat your soul :D**

**Link:** **.net/s/5478790/1/Halves_Make_a_Whole**

**Also, I just want to say, if anyone finds that Leyalin is based off a place, real or fiction, can you please tell me? The name randomly popped into my head when I was making the map of the Southlands, so I don't know if it was some weird subconscious remember thingy…**

**This chapter is going to be a bit scatterbrained than the others, but there are some important things in this chapter…like really important.**

"Well folks, take your last look at Port Savo. Last time you'll see the ocean till we hit up Leyalin." Dean said from the front of the group. Dean leaned against his walking stick and looked out at the clear blue ocean towards the north. He had on a black bandana as a headband and his long hair was whipping around in the wind.

Everyone took one last look at the port town that was their home for the past few days. But now their home was the land itself. Everyone knew that the road ahead would be a tough one. Kite had described the dangers of the southlands to them the day before, but it was one thing to just here about it, another to experience it.

"It had a nice beach.." Kiri said with a sigh.

"There was a good gift shop." Ash said. May blushed and looked over at Ash, and then she rubbed her hand over the blue bandana that was wrapped around her head.

"They had good bathrooms…." Sange said in a very sad voice. Everyone turned to look at him.

"Sange, you're the weirdest Pokémon I've ever met…." Dawn said beside him.

"It's just part of my natural charm, I own all the charm in this fic, so I stole all of yours."

"Sometimes I wish you would just drop dead." Kiri said with a sigh. "Like death by zombie's or something…"

Everyone immediately thought of that scenario.

_A huge zombie hoard ran down the alley way. Hundreds upon hundreds of undead moved as a single mass, spreading death and terror wherever they went. Suddenly a door in front of the hoard exploded open to reveal Sange with a hockey mask and chainsaw. He started the chainsaw and let out a maniacal laugh._

"_You f**kers are dead now MUHAHAHAH!"_

Everyone shuddered at the thought of Sange enjoying himself in the face of a zombie apocalypse.

"Hey you brought it up!" Sange said to Kiri.

"Well you're still annoying!" She fired back.

"Well you have a dumb yellow hat!"

There were several gasps from the group. The Pokémon and the teenager stared at each other for perhaps half a second before jumping towards each other and starting a fight. A large dust cloud immediately formed and the only thing everyone could see were hands and feet flying around.

"You're still a drunk!"

"Least I don't freak out around Gardevoirs!"

"Oh yeah? Say that to my face!"

"I AM!"

Everyone sweat-dropped and tried to ignore the two of them as they beat the crap out of each other. Dean turned back around and tried to hide the grin on his face.

"So…ummm…yeah…where is Kite?" May asked. Their guide had strangely disappeared while everyone's attention had been on Sange. Dean pointed down the road towards the south.

"He's looking ahead trying to find us a place to camp out; he wants to take it slow for the first day."

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"So it's purple?"

"No, It's black with purple tips." Zach said over the radio.

"Do you always change your hairstyle after going to a Halloween party?"

"No, only when I get drunk and I wake up with my pants gone and-WHAM!" Kite tried to suppress his grin as he heard Zach let out a string us cuss words.

"For god's sake man, put a hat on, I don't want one of the people working for me have purple hair." Willow said. Zach rubbed the spot where she had slapped him and put on a green beret.

"Anyways, Kite, do you have a route you're going to take?" She asked him.

"Once we hit Palmer, we are planning to hit up Leyalin and the head south towards the Springs."

There was a short pause over the radio. Kite took that moment to stop walking and survey his surroundings. He had left the road a few seconds ago to try and find a suitable place to camp out. All around him, he could see the signs of a forest approaching. Small to medium trees dotting the landscape with grassy fields separating them. Kite walked towards a large tree and sat down in it's shade.

The sounds of the forest gently lulled him into a state of calm as he listened to the birds chirp and wind blow through the trees. He looked up and watched as a flock of wild Pidgey flew overhead, looking for a tree to rest in. Watching the flying Pokémon made him remember the first time he had seen this part of the southlands. It was also the first time he had flown in a plane with Zach.

**Flashback start**

"_So yeah If they have any chance of winning the cup this year, they need to simply drop Mullins and concentrate on a better pitching game and-" The plane tipped on its side as a gust of wind caught the underside of one of the wings, blowing it up. Zach responded by pulling a full barrel roll. "-then work on a better offense team and that's that!"_

_Kite zipped the barf bag up and hoped that his bowls were finally under control._

"_Whoops hang on, updraft." Zach said from the pilot's seat._

_Kite sighed and reached for another bag._

**Flashback comes to an abrupt end for good reasons.**

"So do you have anything else to add?" Willow said.

"Huh? Oh, anything on our database being hacked?"

"No, but as a precaution, I've put out that all Data pertaining to this case goes through Zach only."

"Fair enough, out."

"Good luck, command out."

Kite took the earpiece out and placed it inside his bag and got back to his feet. He still had to find a nice place to camp at for the night. He began to walk through the woods again, making sure to stay near to the road. Although he was an experienced commando who could still tell you what direction north was if you blindfolded him and spun him around 200 times, the Southlands always seemed to have another trick up its sleeve for getting people lost.

After walking for several minutes, Kite found the perfect spot. In front of him was a grass covered meadow with several tall trees standing guard over it. On one side was a small rise that gave the area an almost "throne room" like atmosphere. To make it even better, Kites trained ears could hear a babbling creek past a clump of trees. He went to investigate and found a large pool of water with a gentle current. He smiled and splashed some of the cool freshwater into his face.

"Yup, this will work."

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

About an hour later, Kite flagged the group towards the campsite he had found. As they walked towards it, Kite noticed Kiri and Sange looked like they had just been through a war.

"What happened between you two?"

"I fell on a stick." They both said at the same time.

"Must have been a big stick…"

"It was a log." They both shot an evil look at each other before walking to put their stuff down, as far away from each other as possible.

"Those two are going to end up shooting each other tonight." Dean said as he walked up beside him. Kite laughed.

"Sange always wants to kill someone, he keeps around a list." Kite lowered his voice.

"Are we being followed?"

Dean shook his head.

"Alright….well that's one good thing…" He brought his voice back to normal levels. "If you need me, I'll be down at that river."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The trickling of the creek in front of him did wonders as he slowly pushed his body and mind into a meditation state. Kite sat cross legged on a rock that was in the very center of the pool of water. He was about to start meditating when he heard someone approaching.

"Hey Kite, mind if I take a bath over here?"

Kite craned his neck to see Kiri in her swim suit and large yellow hat standing on the edge of the water. In his mind he sighed because he had wanted to meditate, but she had asked nicely.

"Go ahead lass." She smiled, and took off her hat, causing her hair to become much longer. The black hair almost went down to the young woman's waist, giving her a very different look. Kiri caught Kite staring.

"What?"

"Nothing, just never seen you with your hair down, even when I first saw you on the boat."

Kiri laughed and jumped into the water, almost splashing Kite. She surfaced and saw the look on his face and laughed. He rolled his eyes at her and then closed his eyes and relaxed.

Behind him, Kiri was scrubbing her hair with some shampoo, causing large amounts of foam to enter the water. She looked over at Kite, who looked like he was in deep thought.

"Something on your mind Kite?" She asked him. Kite didn't turn around, but answered her anyways.

"Just what everyone thinks about when they have time alone to meditate Kiri. Who you are, what's your purpose..." Kite continued to talk, not noticing what was happening behind him.

Kiri was holding onto her head as if some intense headache had suddenly struck her. Her eyes where clenched shut and all she could here was the pounding of her heart as pain lanced into her head.

"….you know stuff like that..." Kite finished and listened for her answer. There was complete silence behind him. He turned around and jerked backwards in surprise. Kiri had swam over to where he was without him noticing. She had then pulled herself halfway up the rock that Kite was sitting on, and was now staring at him.

Kite looked at her for a few seconds in confusion before noticing her eyes were completely out of focus. She seemed to stare at him, and past him at the same time. Kite thought that she might be having a seizure of some sort and he tried to grab her shoulders. He couldn't move.

"_You have no idea who you really are White eyes….."_ Kite tried to speak but he found himself unable to move. Kiri's voice seemed to echo inside his head giving it a deeper tone.

"_Everything is not what it seems."_ Kite was starting to feel very dizzy and tired, he could feel his consciousness slipping away from him. Kiri's face was starting to lose focus.

"_You must remember, for only then can you regain what you lost…"_ And with those words, Kite collapsed into the water, asleep.

Only to open his eyes and find himself back on the rock, with his legs crossed. He jumped upwards and looked around quickly.

"Hey Kite, you mind if I take a bath here." Kite whipped around to see Kiri staring at him.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?" He yelled at her. Kiri looked at him in surprise.

"umm…I can come back later…" She said. Kite grabbed his head and tried to remember what had exactly happened.

"Did you….I don't know, just do something?"

Kiri looked at him oddly. "I do a lot of things…"

"No no, I mean…."

"Mean what?"

Frankly, Kite didn't have a clue about what had just happened.

_Could I have dozed off while meditating?_

That sounded logical. But he still thought about what Kiri had said.

"_You must remember, for only then can you regain what you lost."_

He had no clue what he had lost or what he had to remember. He turned towards Kiri.

"Ummm nothing, I think I just had a weird dream. You can go ahead and take a bath."

Kiri smiled and promptly jumped into the water, her hat still on her head. Kite sighed as she popped back out of the water.

"Do you ever take that thing off?"

"Not really…why should I?"

Kite shrugged and began walking away back towards the camp.

"Just saying…"

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The sun had set and night had fallen on the camp. Ash's Sceptile could hear voices, all full of laughter and happiness as everyone talked around a campfire that had been started.

Sceptile ignored the voices and adjusted his back against the tree he was sitting on. He looked out across the moonlit landscape as he chewed on the twig that was in his mouth. It was nice and quiet up on the tree, just the way he liked it. He closed his eyes and relaxed. Nothing could ruin the mood he was in right now…..nothing except…

"Oh damn, this chili is going to make me shit bricks for a week." Said a voice from below him. Sceptile looked down and saw Sange, the Lucario that had defeated him. Sange turned his back to the tree and looked ready to release his morning glory.

"_HEY THIS TREE IS OCCUPIED!" _Sceptile yelled at him. Sange turned around and looked up at Sceptile.

"Oh sorry, hang on." Sange jumped into the air and landed on a branch above Sceptile. Sceptile sighed, his plans of being alone just got thrown out the window. Sange sat down on the branch and pulled out his pipe.

"_Isn't that bad for you?"_ Sceptile asked upon seeing Sange lit up. He shook his head.

"It's not tobacco, its Rawst Berry." Sange inhaled some smoke and exhaled a small circle in the air. He let out a small laugh.

"_You seem to enjoy being annoying to the humans."_ Sceptile said after a moment. Sange shrugged.

"Sometimes, I don't do it because I'm an ass, I do it because it's fun…..well I guess that does make me an ass…" Sange said with a grin, Sceptile laughed.

"_I'm just saying. The only other talking Pokémon I know of was part of criminal group."_

"Really?"

"_Yeah, talking Meowth." _Sange was quiet for a few moments.

"Never seen another Pokémon like me…"

"_By your strength alone, you're pretty special…"_

"I guess…..hey sorry for beating the crap out of you yesterday…"

Sceptile laughed upon hearing the apology. It just sounded so dumb it was funny, how do you apologize for beating someone up.

"_You were far stronger, it was my fault."_

Sange didn't speak for a moment, Sceptile sensed he was deep in thought.

"You have much potential…your special attacks are strong, but physically your lacking." Sange turned and looked down at the green Pokémon. "You have much strength, but your speed is not that good."

"_What are you getting at?"_

"I'm telling you how you can improve."

Sceptile sat up straighter on the branch he was on. For some odd reason, he truly felt like paying complete attention to the loudmouth and annoying Lucario.

"You need to learn more about the art of moving your body."

"_Art?"_

"I guess so; some can consider it an art. It is to me."

"_Can you teach me?" _

Lucario suddenly looked taken aback at Sceptiles words. Then he put on a thoughtful expression and started mumbling to himself. Sceptile was about to ask him again when Sange spoke up.

"I've never taught anyone…..but I guess I can try…"

"_You would really do it?"_

Sange nodded.

"Yes I think I will…..on one condition."

"_What is it!"_

"That you let NOBODY know about this." Sange turned and looked towards the top of the tree. "You can't tell anyone either Gallade."

A voice came from the darkness of the upper tree.

"I don't care what you do, as long as you leave me out of it."

Sceptile almost jumped into the air from surprise. He was sure that this tree had been deserted when he had climbed it. Sange saw his reaction.

"That's Dean's Gallade, don't mind him, he's a party pooper." Sange said with a laugh. There was no response from the top of the tree.

"_Is he still there?" _Sceptile asked while looking around for any sign of the Sword Pokémon.

Sange shook his head.

"He comes and goes, where he is now, nobody knows."

Sceptile gave up looking and turned towards Sange, who was digging through his backpack.

"_What are you doing?"_

"We gotta drink to this new training thing for good luck." Sange pulled out two large metal flasks and handed one to Sceptile. He took it, opened it up and smelled the contents.

"_What the heck is this stuff?"_

"The heavy stuff lad." He brought it up to his mouth, "bottoms up."

Sceptile looked at the flask in his hands. He knew the effect alcohol had on humans and Pokémon alike, causing impaired judgment and the like. But he didn't want to look like a stuck up Pokémon in front of Sange.

_One quick sip will do it…_

Sceptile brought the liquid up to his lips and poured a little into his mouth.

**Ten minutes later**

"_So like she evolves before the battle and I'm all like 'BISH PLEASE!"_

"Really?"

"_No…hic….i just stared her down…we seem to do that a lot in the anime…"_

Tears started to flow from Sange's eyes.

"But they took you out after AG…"

"_I know….hic….I cried a lot…I think that tree likes me…"_

**So Kite had a weird dream…or did he?**

**Sange agreed to teach Ash's Sceptile combat**

**Pokémon can't hold their beer**

**REMEMBER WHAT I SAID, GO READ **

**.net/s/5478790/1/Halves_Make_a_Whole**


	16. Zach Attack!

**A massively unrelated note, today I re-discovered the magic of Ed Edd Eddy. And to you all, I bid thee butter toast.**

**Last Chapter- Kite has an odd experience with Kiri. Sange decides to train Ash's Sceptile**

"Night Jim, see you tomorrow." Zach said to the security guard as he walked out of the Spec-ops building. Jim held the door open for him as he stepped out into the rainy streets.

"Leaving early Zach?" He asked. Even though it was around 7:00, Zach usually left at 10:00 every night. But he had spent the past two days at his desk trying to dig up anything that could help Kite who was a few thousand miles away. Willow had told him to go home and take a shower. Being exhausted from the lack of sleep, he complied.

"Just this time Jim, I'll be back early."

Zach nodded toward the security guard and walked out into the rain. Outside, a Delta City thunderstorm was raging across the sky, throwing lightning bolts into the tops of buildings and causing constant claps of thunder. The rain was a sporadic drizzle at most, small enough to not warrant the use of an umbrella, but large enough to still be annoying.

Zach walked down towards the street and looked back at the Spec-ops building, and then at the sign that was above the entrance.

**Southlands Waste and Management Utilities**

Zach contemplated the reasons for keeping the Spec-ops a secret. The last major war had come to a close hundreds of years ago and peace had seemed eternal in the Pokémon world, but Zach knew better. He remember something Kite had told him before about the reason people like the two of them existed.

"_As long as there is greed or want, there shall always be evil and suffering in the world. There will be those who want power and will go to any length to get it. But then there are those like us, who make sure they don't."_

The whole "Illusion" of peace was maintained thanks to the actions of some of the bravest people Zach had ever known. Each and every day of safety had been bought with the blood of heroes. Yet the saddest part was that only a few would know of them. For the past two hundred and seventy years, the Pokémon Ranger Spec-ops had protected the innocent by doing what needed to be done, and that was exactly why the world couldn't know about them.

_Because we did what we had to do…the ones we lost knew about this._

He thought of the Wall of the Fallen that was in the Spec-ops Central Command building in Kanto. The wall had existed ever since the spec-ops where formed, and gave testament to the dedication that each and every member had. The names of every person that had fallen, or was lost, while on a mission were written into that wall. Zach had seen it once, and he had never forgotten the long white wall that seemed to stretch hundreds of feet. After all, his father's name was on that wall too.

Zach sighed and turned back towards the street and started walking again. Sometimes he really hated all the secrecy that was involved with his job. But he had wanted to follow his father's footsteps so he had enrolled in the Pokémon Ranger academy. He had graduated with top marks in Communication, computer sciences and Intel analysis. He had then been allowed into the ranks of the Spec-ops, no thanks to his name.

That had been several years ago

It seemed like a distant memory, almost as if he was a different person back then. He thought about it for a moment and was forced to agree. Being in the Spec-ops changes your life.

_Whether for the good or bad….I'll never know._

Zach suddenly realized how parched he was. He had spent the last two days drinking only from the water cooler, as he didn't really allow himself a break to eat. He wondered if he should go get a drink before heading home. He then remembered the only thing he had to eat at his house was a week old cold pizza and several Twinkies. He groaned.

The pizza probably smelled like death incarnate now.

He took a turn at another street and began walking towards his favorite bar. He knew that the drinks where good and he could find some privacy. Knowing the bartender personally also helped a lot too.

After several minutes of walking, he finally reached a small building with several large windows. Zach pushed open the door and walked in.

There wasn't much of a crowd that night. In one corner were a few college frat boys talking about some idiotic college things. One of them said something about freshmen, causing the others to laugh loudly. Zach ignored them and looked at the other tables, only about half were filled. At the bar sat a man with a fedora and trench coat who appeared to be engrossed with a document he was reading. Zach sat a few seats away from him, preferring to be alone.

Jake, the owner and bartender of the little pub, walked over to him.

"Haven't seen you around here for awhile Zach." He said while reaching down for a cup and filling it with a mix of drinks. Zach knew Jake prided himself on knowing everyone's favorite drink.

"Work has been busy Jake." He said as he took of his hat. Jake handed him a glass of his favorite drink and then picked up a glass and started whipping it with a cloth. Zach took a long gulp and savored the taste. After drinking only water for the past few days, the cola mixed with assorted liquors and rum tasted amazing. Zach smiled.

"You know, every time I see you, your always cleaning a glass." Zach told the long haired bartender. Jake merely shrugged.

"Give me something to do on nights like this." There was another loud laugh from the table full of college kids. Jake started cleaning a little bit harder from annoyance. Zach suddenly had an image in his head of a 80 year old Jake.

_Sitting in his rocking chair, he continued to massage the glass with his rag._

"_this glass is going to be so f**king clean when I'm done with it…"_

Zach laughed.

"What?" Jake asked him.

"Nothing, just forget about it." He said between giggles. Jake looked at him for a moment before turning to his treeko, who was snoozing in a chair behind the bar. He let out a small whistle and the small, green Pokémon opened on eye and looked at him. Jake threw him the glass he was polishing and the Pokémon caught it. He then reached up and put it in a cabinet above his head. Treeko then went back to sleep. Jake looked around and then paused.

"What?" Zach asked him.

"Oh nothing." He said. Jake reached down and pulled out a large silver plate and showed it to Zach.

"Wondering if you want anything to eat?" Jake said tapping the plate with his finger.

"Jake, your food tastes like shit, why would you think I want any?"

Jake tapped the plate with his finger a little harder.

"No I insist."

Zach was about to tell him no again until he looked down at the plate. More specifically, the reflection it was showing.

Two men were staring at him from across the room. Both had large tan trench coats on, with the collars on them up to conceal their faces. Zach frowned.

"Friends of yours?" Jake said with a whisper. Instead of answering, Zach simply blinked three times. Jake looked at him oddly. Zach realized his error.

_Forgot I'm not with Spec-ops right now_

"No." Jake looked over at the other man who was on the barstool, the one who was reading a document.

"I have someone who can take care of them for you."

Zach shook his head. He didn't want anyone to get hurt, and he was perfectly fine by himself. He quickly downed to rest of his drink in one massive chug and let out an outrageous belch.

"Got to be going now Jake, put the drink on my tab!" Zach started to walk away.

"You got it, See you later." He silently mouthed the words "good luck." Zach nodded towards him and walked outside and into the rain. He began to take a route that would take him, not to his house on the beachfront, but towards an abandoned industrial warehouse area. If he had to beat someone up, he would at least do it without anyone seeing it.

As he walked, he looked around at the various mirror-like and reflective objects around him. Kite had taught him that in a place like this, you could drastically reduce or eliminate your blind spots. This was an important lesson for him because of the situation he found himself in now.

He looked at a store window and saw himself, and farther back, the two men that were in the bar. He couldn't help but smiling.

_Amateurs…probably just some muggers wanting to get lucky_

He rounded a corner and saw the warehouse quarter spread before him. The rain, combined with the complete lack of people in the area, gave it an almost haunted look. In front of him was a large open concrete felid that had originally been used for moving materials. But ever since the seaport had expanded, this area had become silent. Zach decided he should end this now instead of dragging it on.

He quickly rounded a corner and waited on the other side.

Several seconds passed. Zach listened closely for footsteps. The only sound he heard was the silent pitter patter of the rain and low rumbles of a thunderstorm. Several more seconds passed and he was about to give up, until he heard voices.

"-really think this is a bad idea." Said a small voice.Zach smiled.

_So one is having second thoughts_

"What are you worried about?" Said another voice, this one was gruff.

"I'm just saying, I got a bad feeling about this."

"Well the boss wants this done, so we're going to get it done."

_The boss? They could be organized crime….although I've never heard of a mafia_

There was a short pause. The gruff voice spoke up.

"Besides, he's only a communications desk jockey, what's the worst he can do?"

Zach jerked backwards.

_They know I'm in the Spec-ops!!!! That must mean…..Advent……_

Before Zach could finish his train of thought, the two men walked past the corner. They almost didn't see him, but 'almost' didn't cut it.

"There he is!" Small voice yelled and jumped towards him, shortly followed by his partner

"DESK JOCKEY!" he yelled in anger. "I'LL SHOW YOU DESK JOCKEY!"

Zach slammed his palm forward and caught soft voice in the face. He pushed forward and shoved him onto his back, the man let out a gasp of pain from both the pain in his face and back. Zach then jumped into the air and launched a kick towards gruff voice.

Gruff Voice quickly moved to the side, dodging it. Landing on his feet, Zach spun around and slammed his leg into the back of his attackers knees, making him fall down to the ground.

Zach grinned. You didn't make it into the spec-ops without dozens of hours of training sessions of Hand-to-hand combat, weapons training and physical training. He might not be a field agent anymore, but he was still a deadly force.

Running over to the fallen soft voice, Zach reached down and pulled him into a choke hold. He lifted him up till he was on his feet. He then reached in to his coat pocket and brought out his firearm.

An old, .44 Magnum Revolver.

He aimed it at Gruff voice, who was just getting to his feet. The man immediately froze.

"Now….instead of letting you folks go home and tell all your friends how a _desk jockey _beat the living shit out of you within ten seconds, I'm going to take you guys downtown."

Zach motioned with his pistol for gruff voice to get up. The man slowly stood up.

"Hands over your head."

With hatred in his eyes, he put both his hands on his head. Suddenly, Soft voice began to struggle in his arms. He saw him reach down and press something on his watch.

"Hey now!" Zach said. He lifted his pistol up and beat him over the head, knocking him out instantly. Soft voice slumped in Zach's arms, but he didn't let him go.

Beside him, gruff voice started to laugh.

"You must have really hated this guy to laugh at a time like this." Zach said.

Instead of answering, gruff voice took a step backwards. He took something out of his pocket and showed it to Zach.

It was the memory stick he had been carrying. More importantly, it was the memory stick that had everything on the Ketchum case.

_How did he….never mind…._

Zach was about to yell at him when suddenly there was a bright flash behind him. He turned around to look.

After a few seconds, the light dissipated to reveal something that almost made Zach drop his gun. In front of him stood at least three dozen white robed men, all looking pissed off. Several of them had guns in their hands. In the very front, stood a tall man with an Abra in his hands. He pulled out a poke ball and retuned the small psychic Pokémon.

Behind him, he heard gruff voice running away towards the warehouses. He would have chased aafter him, but he had some bigger problems.

The man in the front pointed to Zach.

"We have what we want tear him to pieces!"

Several Poke balls appeared and guns jerked towards him.

"Oh Balls…" Zach muttered. Someone started to open fire.

Zach threw himself behind a corner as dozens of bullets went flying towards him. He slammed his back onto the wall and started to fire blindly around the corner with his own gun.

"I'm so freaking screwed." He kept saying over and over. He hadn't been in this much deep shit since…well…ever.

Any other person would have immediately panicked and ran away.

But he wasn't any other person.

He had an obligation to prevent the Advent from escaping with the Intel he had been carrying.

Thinking quickly, he realized that the only place he would be able to make a stand was in the warehouses. But he had to first run across the large concrete field. And with all those guns, running across that place was suicide.

"Metagross, Go!" He let out his blue Iron leg body, who immediately wondered why he was being shot out. But he had seen weirder things in life.

"I need to get over to that building." He pointed over to it. "Can you shield me?"

His four legged Pokémon nodded and began walking out of the corner, bullets pinging harmlessly off his iron body.

"Here goes nothing…"

Zach ran close to the ground behind his Pokémon. He could here multiple bullets flying over his head. He kept telling himself this was the dumbest idea he had ever had in his entire life, and he had had some dumb ideas. Moving slowly, the pair made their way to the warehouse. Staying under the cover of his Pokémon, he threw open a door inside and jumped inside.

Zach let out a huge sigh of relief.

"META!" Came a yell from outside.

"Opps, sorry." He forgot his Metagross didn't fit through most doors. He quickly returned him to his ball, and re-released him back inside.

Zach stood up and looked through a small window. A large group of Pokémon where making their way towards the warehouse. It seemed their human masters didn't want to risk getting killed by Zach.

He turned around and threw out three poke balls. In front of him stood his Electivire , Sceptile and Infernape. All his Pokémon looked towards him.

"Alright team, the shit has seriously gone past the fan and is now lodged in the air conditioning unit. We got a small army of Pokémon headed this way, and no help in sight."

All his Pokémon started to stretch out, knowing what was coming.

"I need you guys to hold them back while I go find something I lost…"

Strangely all his Pokémon saluted him. Zach smiled.

"Thanks guys, good luck!" he yelled and ran off towards a door at the rear of the warehouse.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

"_Bloody hell….he was right, that is a small army." _ Infernape said while looking out the window at the advancing small army. Behind him, Electivire cracked his knuckles' and a few sparks danced around his fingers.

"_Doesn't matter, __we shall fight on the beaches__, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender!!"_

Sceptile walked over and slapped him on the back of the head.

"_For god's sake this isn't the Alamo."_

"_Actually I was quoting Winston Chrurch-"_Sceptile slapped him again.

"_I don't care!"_

"_SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU!"_ Metagross yelled. "_GOD YOUR SO FREAKING ANNOYING!"_

"_yeah well your loud!" _ Sceptile shot back.

From the window Infernape let out a squeak.

"_Guys!"_

"_SO WHAT?"_

"_Being loud makes you annoying! It's like answering a forum post with ALL CAPS!"_

Infernape let out another yell.

"_Guys!!!"_

Metagross walked over to Sceptile and stared at him. Sceptile folded his arms and stuck out his tongue.

"_What are you going to do? Sit on me?"_

"_I WAS THINKING ABOUT IT"_

Suddenly there was a large WHAM sound from the wall nearby. Sceptile, Metagross and Electivire turned around and saw Infernape jumping up and down and pointing at the wall.

"_They're trying to blow a hole inside!!" _

"_Why didn't you tell us?" _ All three of the Pokémon said at the same time. Infernape slapped his face.

"_I'm surrounded by knuckleheads…just great…" _he muttered.

There was another large WHAM and this time a huge dent appeared. Sceptile walked forward and looked around.

"_If we can keep them in the hole they make, we can hold them back easily."_

The three other Pokémon took positions around the hole. Metagross in the center of the group, with Infernape and Sceptile on the sides and Electivire in the rear, ready to assist when one of them was forced back.

WHAM

The flame on Infernape's head grew a little larger as he punched the air a few times.

WHAM

The leaves on Sceptiles arms started to glow in a white light.

WHAM

Metagross began to pound his large feet into the ground, making it sound like someone was hitting a base drum over and over.

WHAM

"I _just realized something….."_ Electivire started to say as the wall started to burst open.

"_I really got to pee…."_

A horde of Pokémon descended on the four of them.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"YOU CAN'T RUN FROM ME FOREVER." Zach yelled at the retreating figure. Zach fired off several shots from his pistol, but missed because the rain threw his aim of slightly. Zach cursed and ran after him. He watched as gruff voice ran to a nearby warehouse, open the door and run in.

Zach reloaded his weapon while running and threw open the door and entered.

The whole building was pitch dark, only being illuminated by the flashes of lighting. Every time the lighting flashed, Zach got a glimpse of several stacks of raw materials in the warehouse but no sign of the guy he was hunting for.

Zach brought his gun up and slowly walked through the dark.

_Where are you…._

He could hear nothing except his own heartbeat and the sound of rain hitting the metal roof. Another lighting flash, nothing was in front of him.

He stopped moving and tried to bring his heart rate down.

He looked around again and noticed something on the floor. He leaned down to pick it up and found what seemed to be a PDA. He flipped it around and looked at the text on it.

**DATA TRANSFER COMPLETE**

"Son o a bitch…" He muttered. He pocketed the PDA and stood up.

Something collided with the back of his head and he fell the ground. No sooner did he see the outline of gruff voice with a metal pipe in his hand, he drifted off to unconsciousness.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"I'MA FIRIN MY LAZOR!!!" Metagross yelled as a large white beam shot out of his mouth and collided with several Pokémon, knocking them all out instantly. Beside him, Sceptile kicked a Loudred between the eyes, sending it flying backwards, he spun around a let out a volley of bullet seeds at several Electrikes. Not even stopping, he jumped into the air and grabbed a hold of a Staravia and let loose with a full volley into its face. The flying Pokémon was immediately knocked out and fell towards the ground.

On the other side of Metagross, Infernape was a flaming hurricane off moves. Not even moving his feet, he let lose a fire blast, fire spin and several fighting moves all in quick succession. A dozen or more fell in quick succession.

"_This is too easy!" _Electivire yelled as he let lose a devastating Thunderbolt into the midst of the battle. Several yowls of pain were heard.

"_YOU ARE CORRECT" _Metagross yelled as he swept aside a Machamp with his massive iron legs.

"_To easy……Electivire, go find the boss."_ Sceptile yelled as he spun around in a circle, cutting several Pokémon that were unlucky enough to get close to him.

"_Why?"_

Sceptile started to charge up a solar beam.

"_JUST GO!"_ He yelled as he let out a huge burst of energy. The electric Pokémon let out one more thunderbolt and sped off the way Zach had gone.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Ow….my head…" Zach managed to mutter. He opened his eyes and found himself outside of the warehouse in the rain. Gruff voice stood in front of him with his back turned. Zach was about to get up and beat the living snot out of him, but then he realized he was on the phone.

"Are you sure you can confirm the data transfer?.....yes….Oh he ran…..no I managed to knock him out….um..Thank you General Varne…..yes I will….ok….thank you sir!" He closed the phone and laughed. He then pulled out a gun, more specifically Zach's gun. He turned around and aimed it at Zach.

_There is no way I can dodge…crap this is it!_

Suddenly there was a yellow flash and Gruff voice fell to the ground, smoking. Behind him stood his Electivire, who gave Zach a thumb up. Zach laughed and stood up.

"Thanks boy, is everyone else ok?" He asked.

Suddenly there was a massive explosion from the warehouse he had left his Pokémon in.

"OH NO!" He yelled and took off running, His electric Pokémon behind him. He ran until he was standing in front of a large hole with smoke billowing out of it. Hundreds of feinted Pokémon lay on the ground.

"are they…." Zach started to say. Nothing moved in the hole.

Suddenly His Pokémon pointed and shouted gleefully.

Out of the smoke, his three Pokémon appeared, walking in super slow motion. Each one of them looked like they had been through hell.

"_Last time I ever let you do an explosion in a room with me in it" _ Sceptile said.

"_IT WORKED DIDN'T IT?" _

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Are you sure he said Varne?" Willow asked him as he held the ice pack to the back of his head. Zach had hauled ass back to the Spec-ops building and told Willow what happened, who immediately called an emergency briefing. When Zach had dropped the words 'General Varne' she had contacted Central Command with a request that the leader of the Spec-Ops, The Old Man, haul his ass out of bed and get on a video conference.

"For the last time, yes!" He said. Willow walked over to an aid who handed her a file.

"This is just freaking great, we lose our Intel and we find out none other than Varne is with the advent."

"You know him?"

"Know of him, not personally." She pointed to a computer that was against the wall. "Tell Kite to get his ass out of bed, he needs to here this too." She slammed the file she was carrying onto the table.

"CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHY THE OLD MAN HASN'T CONTACTED US BACK YET?"

Nobody had an answer. Willow cursed.

Zach sat down and started typing the command s needed to contact Kite. Sky walked over beside him.

"How many were there?" He asked.

"I didn't have time to count." Zach replied sarcastically as he hit the SEND button. Now all Kite had to do was answer the call.

"Well I'm glad you didn't get your brains beat in…"

"Thanks." Zach said absent mindedly.

After several seconds, Kite finally answered the radio.

"God damn it Zach it's two in the morning…." He said with a yawn.

Zach quickly filled him in on everything that happened.

"Varne…so he is alive.." Kite mumbled.

"Why does everyone seem to know who he is except me?" Zach complained.

"He was before our time, but I did research. He used to be in the spec-ops."

Zach sucked his breath in. He finally understood why for the past ten years, it had been impossible for them to gain any solid Intel on the Advent. Simply put, the Spec-ops best weapon, secrecy, was gone in this situation.

"What happened to him?"

"Honestly, no idea. I think there was a cover up though."

"What makes you say that?"

"Just my gut…"

"Director is coming on Commander." Yelled an aid who was working the communications booth.

"About damn time..." Willow muttered. A large screen on the side of the room flickered on. After loading for a few seconds, a image of an old man, well into his fifties appeared.

"_Director Milo Braven online" _said a computer generated voice. The director immediately launched into one of his famous rants.

"DAMN IT COMMANDER, I'M IN BED DREAMING ABOUT RETIREMENT AND YOU WAKE ME UP FOR THIS?"

"Sir the Intel we have is very important…"

"YOUR DAMN RIGHT ABOUT IT BEING IMPORTANT! WHY WASN'T I TOLD SOONER!"

"Sir we just found out about it…"

"WAIT no…I don't give two shit's about it. THE IMPORTANT thing is, our organization has been compromised if that Intel is true. The Advent knows who we are, that's reason enough to call the situation FUBAR." He leaned towards the screen. "Commander I want you to double, no triple security. I want you checking round the clock for any breach. I want you to sit your ass down so tight on any Intel you find that you shit paper for a week. And you better find that god damn mole too…"

Willow looked at the director with a confused look.

"Sir what mole.."

The old man's face made him look like he was trying to pass a kidney stone the size of a beach ball.

"DO YOU PEOPLE HAVE ANY BRAINS?" he sighed and calmed down. "Look, they knew EXACTLY who to target when looking for Intel on this Ketchup err, Kochep I mean Carp Syrup kid…god damn it, what's his name."

"Ketchum!" One of the aids said.

"WHATEVER! Find that mole, you have your orders. Now where's Kite?"

"Here sir." Kite said from a speaker.

"Kid, I want you so far up Ketchum's ass that you develop a suntan line for the parts that are NOT. That kid is our bait, once they take the bait you reel it it. Do I make myself clear?"

There was a short pause. Zach frowned.

"Yes sir." The old man turned back to Willow and began talking about the Intel that was lost. Zach flipped a switch so he could talk to Kite alone.

"Something wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing…." Kite said.

"I've known you for five years, I can tell when something is wrong."

He heard Kite sigh from the other line.

"I don't want to put Ash and his friends in anymore danger than I have too…He's not bait to me."

Zach frowned again, Kite never said anything like this before. He usually didn't give a rats ass about the people involved in a mission.

"Run that by me again…"

"No…I think it's just the sleepiness…"

"Yeah, the sleepiness." He said sarcastically. Suddenly he felt someone slap him in the back of the head. He groaned in pain as it hit the spot where gruff voice had hit him. He turned around and saw Willow.

"Go home and take a shower, and for the love of god, don't get in a fight this time.


	17. Training Day

**Chapter 18**

**Wow, 40k+ words so far and only two weeks of writing. I'd like to send a shout out to My lady lass, best friends, Kiri from Bulbagarden, Zach from Bulbagarden and most importantly, large amounts of sugar!.**

**Last Chapter: Zach was attacked by several Advent guards and lost the data pertaining to the Ketchum case. He manages to find out that an Ex-spec ops agent is in the advent though. The director orders Kite to use Ash as bait and for Willow to find the mole in her organization.**

Sceptile was quickly woken up from his alcohol induced dreams when a bucket of water was poured over him head. His eyes shot open as he quickly jerked into a sitting position.

Pain exploded in his head and stomach. He turned to the side and let lose an explosive blast of vomit that would have made a Muk using sludge bomb proud. After evacuating his digestive tract he opened his eyes to see stars.

It was still night.

Sceptile tried to move but his headache was telling him no go on that one.

_LAST TIME I EVER DRINK BEER…._

"_What time is it…"_ Sceptile muttered. There was a laugh from behind him. Sceptile managed to turn his head without throwing up, but when he saw who was standing behind him, he almost threw up anyways.

The Lucario standing before him was dressed in a camouflage colored pair of jeans and long sleeve shirt. On his head was a wide brimmed hat and under it, his eyes were covered by a pair of aviator sunglasses. On his feet where a pair of boots too.

"_Sange what are you doing.."_

Sange started to yell in a voice that was far lower than usual.

"MY NAME IS DRILL SERGENT TO YOU"

"_Drill what?"_

"SHUTUP AND GIVE ME TWENTY PUSHUPS." Sange said pointing towards the ground. Sceptile looked at him like he was crazy.

"_It's what? Two in the morning and I'm having the first hangover of my life, when I said train me I ment-"_

The rest of his sentence was cut off as Sange darted forward and picked Sceptile. His head spiked from pain as he was set on his feet by his 'master'. Sceptile threw up again, on one of Sanges boots this time. Kite's Pokémon didn't move as Sceptile wiped his mouth with his hand and smiled feebly.

"_ummm….."_

"Son…these boots cost me a hundred dollars…."

"_I'm sorry…"_

Sange pointed towards the river. "WALK."

Sceptile started walking, trying to ignore the pain in his head. Behind him, Sange launched into a monolog.

"Boy, by the time I'm through with you your going to be UN-FREAKING-BEATABLE. You're going to dance like a Butterfree and sting like a freight train! You'll be a god damn ninja if I have my way with you. Popping out of nowhere and blowing the crap out of everything in your way. You'll be jumping across walls and flying though the air like a freakin-"

"_Arrrrrrg stop talking so loud!"_ Sceptile complained while holding onto his head in pain. They had arrived at the river and where walking along it.

"Feh…lightweight." Sange said.

"_This is my first hangover, give me a break!"_

"Ok fine, here's your break!" Sange jumped forward and pushed Sceptile in to the water. The forest Pokémon let out a startled yelp as he fell into the water, but within seconds he was on his feet with an angry look on his face.

"_WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"_ He yelled.

"You feel better don't you?" Sange said. For some reason all the clothes he had on a second ago where gone.

Strangely, he did. The headache that had been assaulting every one of his senses was not gone, but at least bearable. Sceptile scratched his head.

"_I do now…"_ Sceptile swam over to the bank of the creek and pulled himself out.

"Well now that that is taken care of, we can begin training now." In one fluid moment, Sange jumped into one of the branches of a tree that was above him. He gestured for Sceptile to join him.

Bracing his legs, the lizard like Pokémon flew into the air and landed next to Sange. He smiled. If jumping was going to be tested, he knew he would do well. He had always been a good jumper.

Sange pointed in a direction away from the camp.

"Your job is to try and catch me, touch the ground and you lose."

Sceptile grinned, it was a jumping challenge.

"Go."

Before Sceptile could even blink, Sange as flying through the air towards the next tree. He landed on a small branch that looked too small to hold his weight. But instead of breaking when he landed on it, the branch simply bent a little. Sange turned around and gave him a thumbs up.

Grinning, Sceptile leaped from the tree and aimed for the same branch Sange was on. Sange quickly jumped towards another branch on the same tree and watched him. Sceptiles feet touched the branch.

CRACK

The branch snapped in half as Sceptiles weight touched it. He flailed his arms and managed to grab a hold of another branch. Above him, Sange laughed.

"Having problems big guy?"

Sceptile pulled himself up and looked at the Lucario.

"_No I'm fine!"_ Sange yelled and jumped towards another tree.

Sceptile grinned and chased after him.

_You want a chase? I'll give you a chase_

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Sange ran across several branches as Sceptile flew through the air behind him. Twisting around he propelled himself towards another tree with a small truck and almost no branches. He grabbed a hold of the trunk and allowed his momentum to spin him around. He let go of the tree and flew in an entirely different direction, landing gracefully on an oak tree.

Sceptile ran up the side of a tree in order to get higher. Once he got to a higher elevation, the forest Pokémon turned around and started running across it, he then leaped off of it like a diving board. He sailed through the air, doing a flip and landed on a branch next to Sange.

"_We've been at this for ten minutes, how much longer do I have to chase you!"_

Sange folded his arms.

"So you think you ready?"

"_Yeah, I've proven I can keep up with you!"_

"You can keep up sure, but what about in a battle?"

"_We're not having a battle.."_

Sange snapped his fingers. For a moment, nothing happened, all Sceptile good here was the wind through the trees, and all he could see was the moonlit forest. Suddenly he heard a whistling sound in the air. Sceptile quickly looked for the source of the sound but saw nothing. He looked again and finally saw it.

Three spinning green leaves flying through the air.

Sceptile prepared to dodge, but he realized that the leaves weren't aimed for him, but the branch he was on. The Razor leaves sliced through the branch like a knife through warm butter and it started to fall towards the ground. But Sceptile was already flying through the air. He landed on another branch.

But as soon as his feet touched the wood, he knew something was wrong. This feeling was increased when he felt a cold sensation spreading up his legs and that he couldn't gain any traction. He looked down and saw that the entire branch was covered in ice.

"_What the heck?" _he said after grabbing onto another branch with his hands to stabilize himself.

"He he, challenge is still on, you got too catch me." He held up an finger. "But this time, your under fire!"

To emphasize his point, several bullet seeds and ice shards sped towards him. Sceptile grunted and hopped towards another tree, but the slippery branch he was on caused him to mis-jump and land on the branch face first.

"_Ouch…"_ A few dozen feet away, Sange landed on another tree.

"Better watch out kid! My friends aren't known for their lack of accuracy!"

Sceptile quickly got to his feet and jumped to another branch, just as several razor leafs cut through the branch he was on. Not even slowing his pace, Sceptile threw himself up towards a tall Oak tree. He grabbed a limb with his hands and flipped over towards another tree. Behind him, he could hear the sound of several projectiles slamming into the tree. He leaped towards another large oak tree and looked around for Sange.

Suddenly out of nowhere, the fighting Pokémon flew towards him and landed on the same branch he was on. He clapped his hands and his bone staff appeared. Moving quickly, he brought the staff down on Sceptile, who managed to bring up his leaf blades up to deflect it.

"Focus Kid, be aware of your surroundings at all times."

Sceptile quickly jumped backwards and dodged a cluster of bullet seeds, his victory was short lived however, as Sange dashed towards him and swept his staff in a wide arc. Sceptile again managed to defect the blow.

"But don't forget your opponent either!" He spun around and shoved his staff forward like a spear. Sceptile leaned to the side while making sure he stayed on the branch, dodging it. He quickly tried to move forward to attack Sange, but another volley of bulled seeds and ice shards prevented him from doing so.

Sceptile quickly cart wheeled backwards as the projectiles soared towards him. Once his feet were back on the bark, he rushed forward and unleashed a flurry of attack at Sange.

Slice, dodge, block, jump, back flip, spin and attack. Those actions became the single driving force behind his whole existence. He felt his blood sing as he held his weaved his body through the combat.

_It's just a dance…_

Sceptile jumped forward, back flipping at the same time, and unleashing a vicious uppercut that Sange ducked under.

_A dance we spend our lives perfecting_

Landing on his feet, he spun around let loose with a vicious backhand that was blocked by the blue staff, Sange counter attack with a quick vertical strike.

_It lights our soul aflame_

He blocked it quickly and let loose with a dozen or so blow in a blink of an eye, each one was blocked.

_This is a passion_

Sceptile threw himself flat as a volley of bullet seeds arced across his head, he then pulled himself back to his feet quickly and dashed towards Sange again.

_But like all dances…_

Sange put so much strength into his next blow that it shoved Sceptile to his knees.

_They must come to an end._

As the staff slowly edged towards Sceptiles face, he forgot to take the other attacks into account. He felt several dozen ice shards and bullet seeps slam into his side, knocking him off the branch and onto the ground. The wind was knocked out of his lungs as he crashed into the ground.

But even then, the feeling of failure in his heart was still what hurt him the most.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Well kid, you did much better than I thought you would." Sange said as he landed on the ground next to Sceptile.

"_Does it matter? I still failed…" _The forest Pokémon said with a sigh. He propped himself up and leaned against the tree he and Sange had fought on. Sange sighed, took out his pipe and lit it up.

"This exercise was made for you to fail." He let out a puff of smoke. "I could tell you were good, but when being attacked by three enemies at the same time…well that's another story."

"_Who was that attacking?"_

Sange looked over towards the woods. "HEY GUYS, COME OUT NOW!" There was a small rustle and a three Pokémon walked towards them.

"Meet some of Deans Pokémon, Froslass, Shitry and Blaziken."

The Shiftry was the first to talk.

"_Sup, nice jumping out there."_

"_You are very strong indeed." _Froslass said with a telepathic voice.

"_You are pretty good Kid."_ Blaziken added. Froslass sighed.

"_For the last time, you can't call him kid, he's older than you!"_

Blaziken looked at his feet dejectedly.

Sceptile turned towards Sange.

"_I thought you didn't want anyone else knowing you were training me."_

"Well I decided that was kind of dumb because I needed some help…Hey blaze, can we get a fire going?" He asked the large fire Pokémon.

"_Sure thing dude."_ He said while walking towards a large tree. He opened his mouth, letting loose a huge flamethrower that engulfed the whole tree.

"Not that big of a fire…" Sange said. Blaziken ignored him and started dancing around.

"WHOOOOO FIRE FIRE FIRE!!! BUUUUUURN WHOOO."

Suddenly there was a cold blast of wind and the fire was snuffed out as Froslass used icy wind to extinguish the fire. Blaziken looked like someone had just shot his puppy.

"_awwww……"_

"_Jeez you're going to burn down a forest if you keep it up like this."_ The snow land Pokémon then used psychic to break off a few branches from some other trees and place them in a large pile. Blaziken then used flamethrower, lighting the branches and Shiftry, who was standing next to the pile on fire. The wicked Pokémon started running around on circles.

"_AHHHHH WHAT DO I DO, WHAT DO I DO!"_

"_Stop, drop and roll!" _Sceptile yelled.

"Panic!" Sange added.

A Bunearyjumped out of the forest.

"DO A BARREL ROLL!"(**For the love of god, someone please tell me they understand this reference..)**

Froslass sighed and used icy wind again to put the fire out.

"_Am I the only one with brains in the group…."_

Shiftry, after being cooled off, walked several feet away from the fire to sit down. He then began the process of thinking of ways to kill Blaziken and get away with it. The rest of the group huddled close to the fire, except Froslass held back a little.

"_So honestly, did I do well?" _Sceptile asked the group.

"_Anyone that can hold his own against Sange is very powerful."_ Froslass said. Shiftry laughed.

"_I wouldn't say it like that, but yeah kid you did well."_

Sceptile frowned.

"_Can you guys stop calling me kid?"_

"Can you beat me in a fight?" Sange asked.

"_Well no I can't…."_

"There's your answer."

They we're all silent for a few moments, enjoying the warm comfort of the fire. Sceptile then asked Sange something that had been on his mind for a long time.

"_Hey master," _Sange grinned, "_How did Kite catch you?"_

Sange let out a puff of smoke.

"Well kid I hatched from an egg on a night not to different 6 years ago to the day. The first thing I remembered seeing was Kites smiling face in the Pokémon center. So I've been with him my entire life."

"_Where did he get your egg?"_

Sange shifted uncomfortably.

"Kid, you can ask Kite a lot of things, but anything about his past is off limits, I've known him for six years and the only thing I've gotten out of him is that he used to live in Kanto and never knew his parents, only his grandparents and brother. I've tried asking him dozens of times and every time I ask he always gets into a sour mood."

"_Is it frustrating not knowing?"_

"There are other things in life you should worry about. Kid, I have other things to worry about…"Sange drifted off. Sceptile felt like asking him what he meant, but the look on his masters face told him not too.

Froslass suddenly levitated into the air and looked towards the forest.

"_Hey, don't some Pokémon get agitated from smoke?"_ She asked. Shiftry shrugged.

"_I think some bug types, why?"_

"_Because….THERE'S A FREAKING SWARM OF BEEDRILL SWARMING TOWARDS US!" _She yelled. The group jumped to their feet and looked around.

"_I hear something!" _Sceptile said. He could hear a slight buzzing sound over the wind and crackling of the flames.

"I think…."Sange began, and then he whipped around as a huge swarm of Pokémon came flying through the trees. Dozens upon dozens of poison bee Pokémon flew towards the group of Pokémon with malice in their eyes. They we're all chanting the same thing.

"_SMOKE BAD! DEATH TO THE FIRE STARTERS!"_ they all said over and over again. Blaziken stepped forwards.

"_Time for some roasted insect-"_Froslass smacked him in the back of the head.

"_You idiot, there are too many! Time to run!"_

Shiftry jumped up and began running back towards the camp, with Froslass and Blaziken behind him. Sange and Sceptile also started running.

"Time to see if those jumping lessons paid of Kid!"

Behind them, the swarm slowly inched closer to the fleeing Pokémon.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Kiri yawned and put on her hat as she pulled herself out of her sleeping bag. She looked up into the sky and saw the slightest rays of dawn in the sky. Around her, the rest of the group was asleep. She smiled and decided to wash her face down by the river.

Quietly, she made her way out of the camp, almost tripping when she heard Dean say something about 'hamburgers for breakfast' in his sleep. Smiling she made her way down to the river.

At the river, she fell to her knees and gently splashed some water into her face.

_Ahhh….the outdoors…I can get used to-_

Suddenly on the other side of the bank, she saw a very wide eyed Shiftry with a large scorch mark on its head run past her. Shortly followed by a Froslass and what she recognized to be Ash's Sceptile. Both were hauling ass down the riverbank with looks of fear on their faces.

"Hmm that's weird…" she muttered. But nothing could compare to what she saw next.

A Blaziken was being chased by at least seventy angry Beedrill. She stared opened mouthed as the large fire type Pokémon was poked over and over again in the buttocks by the bug Pokémon, making his butt swell to epic proportions. Tears where running down his eyes as he struggled to run faster.

Behind the Swarm of bug type Pokémon, came Sange, who was carry a very large log in his.

"AHHAHAHA HERE COMES THE PAIN TRAIN!"Sange yelled as he chased after the bug Pokémon.

Kiri watched until they were out of sight. She then promptly headed back to the campsite, got back into her sleeping bag, and tried to fall back asleep.

_Why do I wake up to crap like this in the morning…?_

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"_WE ARE SO SCREWED!"_ Froslass yelled from beside him. Sceptile grunted as he jumped over a small boulder.

"_Two things I've learned today, never start a fire in the forest, and never drink something with alcohol!"_

Behind them they heard Blaziken let out another yelp of pain.

"_WHY IS IT ALWAYS ME THAT GETS STUNG IN THE BUTT!" _He yelled. Froslass and Sceptile didn't bother to answer.

Sange finally managed to catch up to Sceptile and Froslass, having tried to beat some of the bugs up with a large log and failing.

"Hey god, it's me Sange, I know I have done some bad things in life-"

"_You robbed a liquor store once… no multiple times!!"_ Froslass yelled.

"Ok, I've done A LOT of bad things in life, but I've always had good intention in my heart…"

"_You once took a dump in a Pokémon centers air conditioning unit and put cherry bombs in all the toilets because Nurse Joy beat you in a card game!"_ Shiftry yelled from in front of him.

"Ok I might be a jokester sometimes…."

"_You poisoned the eggnog at last year's Christmas party with a Laxative! And then stole the buildings entire supply of toilet paper!!"_ Blaziken yelled between yelps of pain. Sange sighed.

"Guys I'm trying to enlist divine aid, you can AT LEAST not be a bunch of douches and act like this."

Suddenly, all the Beedrill stopped moving and hovered in midair. The group skidded to a stop and watched as a sinister looking purple aura surrounded the bug Pokémon. Then suddenly, they were hurled through the air at breakneck speeds, and went out of sight.

"Hey guys guess what, god loves me, and I win!" Sange said happily.

"_Yes I am god, but I defiantly don't love you."_ Everyone looked around for the source of the voice. Behind them, a shiny blue Gardevoir stepped out of the bushes with a Pikachu on her shoulder.

"_Thanks moon!" _Froslass said. Moon just shrugged.

"_No problem, stuff like this usually happens when your around Sange."_

"It's not always that bad…." He said. Moon and Sange immediately started to bicker like an old married couple.

Sceptile sighed.

_Weirdest…training day….ever_


	18. The Captains

**Last chapter: Sange attempted to start Sceptiles training. After being introduced to some of Dean's Pokémon, they were almost killed by a swarm a Beedrill. But luckily, Moon saved them. **

**Sorry about the wait on this one everybody, it's been total hell coming up with some good villains, but thanks to the power of sugar induced dreams, I finally came up with some !!**

**WARNING, THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SOME DARK THEMES**

Saruo let out a malicious laugh that was laced with pleasure as the security guard lay twitching on the rain soaked concrete. As Targan watched, the security guards eyes rolled up into the back of his skull and blood started to trickle from his tear ducts, ears and nose.

"Ohhhhh yes….."Saruo moaned as he saw the blood. He cupped the guards face with his hands and touched the top of his forehead with his own. The pale skinned man licked some of the blood pouring out of the incapacitated security guards face.

"Give me…your dreams…" He said while moaning. Targan watched as Saruo stared directly into his eye sockets, his black eyes refusing to blink as he stared at the broken mans white orbs called eyes.

The security guards body went totally rigid and the spasms he had been experiencing a second ago disappeared. The healthy skin around his eyes became an incredibly pale shade of white, almost as if all the color in his body, or spirit was being sucked out of him.

In a way, it was.

Saruo let out a quivering moan as the paleness spread across his body like a fire in a dry grassland. Soon all the color was completely gone, giving him the look of a lifeless corpse. But Targan knew that he was not dead, but will soon wish to be.

"Give me your spirit!" Saruo let out. Saruo's eyes began to quickly dart around rapidly but they continued to focus on the man's own eyes. If anyone else was in the room they would have felt a slight prickling sensation in the back of their necks and a shivering sensation in their hearts. Targan knew these where the signs of a human using a psychic power.

Unlike Pokémon, humans could only use most psychic powers like blunt objects instead of a surgeon's scalpel. This caused people to feel the bleed-off of the energy that was being used as a "prickly sensation. Very few people in the world could use the powers of the mind without this effect, most of them didn't have any idea they had the power in the first place. But Targan knew he had those powers.

Saruo was beginning to shake rapidly as he looked into the man's eyes. Targan could tell he was close to finishing as the moans of ecstasy and bouts of laughter increased. Targan snapped his fingers.

Saruo let out a yelp of surprise and anger as he was suddenly thrown back several feet by an invisible force. He turned his angry gaze towards the grinning psychic.

"What did you do that for?" He demanded.

"We are later you walking monstrosity." Targan said simply.

"I don't care I want to finish!" he turned his gaze back towards the security guard. "I want his soul…"

Targan sighed and snapped his fingers again. The security guards chest exploded in a shower of red. All his movements immediately stopped and the man's eyes drooped a little. Saruo let out a moan of sadness.

"He tasted good…" Saruo whined. "You never let me have any fun…"

Targan let out a sigh of disgust and began to walk towards the building entrance.

The others would be here soon.

* * *

Alex Dogle had given hundreds of people rides during his time as a Delta City riverboat boat taxi. He had seen them all. Loud people, silent people, famous people, social people, rich people, crazy people and beyond. Frankly put, he thought that he had seen it all.

But fate usually liked to slap people in the face in these situations.

Out of every person that had chosen to travel the waterways, none was more unsettling than the women sitting in front of him with her legs crossed and hands at her side. She had approached him and in a flat, emotionless voice, told him she needed to travel to the northwest warehouse sector and that she needed to do it as fast as possible.

He was about to decline, as the northwest sector was very far off his normal route. But after the woman waved a large sum of money across his face, Alex immediately changed his decision. But now, after ten minutes traveling through the canals, he had begun to feel the urge to drop everything he was doing and run from the woman.

She hadn't said a single word or even moved from her position the entire time they had been on the boat. Her incredibly deep blue eyes stayed glued to the front of the boat as if her life depended on it and the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed was the only indication that she was still alive. After a few moments of standing next to her, Alex had begun to sense a strange coldness that emanated from her. It was one of both cold air and one that touched his soul.

He couldn't help shuddering every time he looked at her.

"Turn here." She said quietly in a slightly muffled voice. Alex flinched in surprise at her first words during the trip and looked to where she had indicated.

"Miss, that's a narrow corridor, I won't be able to turn around." Alex explained. She had indicated a small passage between two large buildings.

"Turn there." She said again, completely ignoring him. Alex felt himself get angry.

"Look I don't care-." He began. But the woman turned her head and looked him directly in the eye.

"Turn there." She repeated. Alex gulped in fear. The woman's voice was completely emotionless, but her eyes had murder written all over it. Alex nodded and began steering towards to small cut. He made sure he aligned himself correctly and then started moving forward, there was barley an inch to spare.

After a few moments of careful navigating, the woman suddenly stood up.

"I'll be getting off here." She said, indicating a small flight of steps that connected the canal and a large building. She gently stepped off the boat and then turned around towards Alex.

"Thank you." She said and held out her hand. Alex looked at it for a second and then shook it. Her skin felt ice cold, so cold in fact that Alex immediately pulled his hand backwards in surprise. The icy feeling still lingered in his palm.

"What is..?" he began but a sharp stinging sensation in his hand interrupted him. The cold sensation suddenly spread from his palm and over his entire body in a matter of seconds. Alex fell onto his knees and tried to call out for help.

His mouth refused to work.

Slowly, he began to feel intense cold spread through his body, chilling him to the core. He felt himself losing control of his motor functions and he started to feel incredibly weak. A few seconds later, Alex Dogle was dead in his own boat.

Above him, the woman turned around and began walking up the stairs.

* * *

A nearby thunderbolt seared across his vision leaving a bright white after-image that temporarily blinded him. At the moment he didn't care if he was blind, only if the Pokémon he was riding on was. A falling sensation in his gut quickly confirmed his fears.

"PiiiiidgeOT!" His mount let out as he began to lose altitude. Zav put his arms over the large bird Pokémon's neck and tried to pull up. Through the rain a fog on his flying goggles, he could see the streets of Delta City approaching rapidly.

"Come on you pile of feather!!!" He yelled though the howl of the wind. Slowly his Pidgeot pulled up until they were flying straight….straight down Downtown Delta City's main street. In front of Zavs eyes was a dangerous mis-mash of power lines, streetlights and ropes holding lanterns.

"AUUUUG now you've done it you freaking bird!"

Pidgeot sighed and ignored his easily excitable master. Now that he wasn't blinded anymore he could fly perfectly. He sailed around streetlights and over and under power lines in a dazzling display of agility and control. The people in the streets looked up and saw him as he sailed through the air. He spread his wings out a little further as they looked at him.

"Showboat…" Zav muttered as his bird Pokémon flew up several hundred feet and out of the danger of hitting any obstacles. Zav pulled out a small GPS from his pocket and strained to look at it through the rain.

"Ok….head thataway!" He said while pointing towards the west. His flying Pokémon let out a loud cry and began flying toward his destination. Within the span of minutes, Zav spotted the building he was looking for.

"Land on that one!" He yelled through the wind. Pidgeot obliged and sped towards the roof. Pidgeot's powerful wings slowed him down as his talons felt the ground. The bird Pokémon bounced a few times before coming to a complete stop. Zav jumped off and returned his Pidgeot to its poke ball.

"Thanks boy!" he said and turned around towards the entrance into the building.

* * *

_Click-clack-click-clack-click-clack_

"You hear something?" Will asked his partner, Ryan. The exhausted looking security guard shook his head.

"No, it's probably just the rain." He said, while looking at his sports magazine. Will frowned and tried listening again. The ambiance of a Delta City thunderstorm greeted him as he strained his ears.

_Click-clack-click-clack_

"There it is again!" He exclaimed, this time Ryan had heard too. He picked up his walki-talkie.

"Checkpoint B, this is checkpoint A. You have anything unusually on your end?"

Nothing but static answered him. Ryan frowned and Will gave him a look of confusion.

"Checkpoint B?" He repeated, but there was still no answer.

_Click-clack-click-clack_

Both Will and Ryan spun around to see the source of the sound. There was a figure walking in the rain towards their guardhouse with slow and deliberate steps. He was dressed in what seemed to be a far eastern black robe with a strap going across his shoulder. His face was hidden by a locks of black hair that were pushed into his face by a black bucket hat.

"What the hell?" Ryan exclaimed before putting on his hat and running outside. Will quickly followed him into the rain. Ahead of him, the black robed stranger came to a stop and watched the two security guards approach him. As Will got closer, he noticed the man's shoes appeared to be wooden sandals.

_That's what had probably made that noise._

Ryan came to a stop.

"Hey you, you can't come over here!" Ryan said in a strong voice. The man looked at Ryan and brought his hand up to shove some of his hair away.

It wasn't a man, Will realized, but nothing more than a teenager. Beside him, Ryan let out a laugh.

"What some kid? Looks like your late to a Halloween party." Will let out a small laugh too. The teenager simply sighed.

His hand twitch

Will blinked

One moment he was standing a few feet in front of him, the next he was almost ten feet behind him, walking towards the entrance of the building. The two of them whipped around.

"HEY KID YOU CAN'T- urk.." Will looked over to see Ryan holding a hand to his side. He was about to ask what has wrong but he noticed a large amount of blood flowing from a slash wound on Ryan's flank. Forgetting the teenager, he was about to walk over and help before he felt a stinging sensation in his gut. He looked down and saw blood flowing from a wound.

"What the..."He managed to get out before falling to his knees. Strangely all he could feel was a minor discomfort, but no pain. As he looked down, he could see hundreds of small cuts forming down his torso, legs and arms. He began to feel weaker and weaker until he fell over to his side.

The two security guards then proceeded to bleed to death in the rainy streets.

Twenty feet away, the teenage boy sheathed the black sword he was carrying in to the scabbard strapped to his back and walked on.

* * *

He really didn't like the two men that were walking in front of him, the old man mused. As he watched Saruo and Targan walk down the hallway towards the meeting room, he sensed the stench of death on the two of them. The old man sighed and ignored the horrid stench.

When those two inflicted death it was a horrible drawn out and painful affair. Far different from the honorable way that he did.

From his hiding place in the shadow a dim hallway, he listened and watched as the two of them talked about their most recent victim and how they had killed him.

_Disgusting…._

Saruo had absolutely no concept of honor and mercilessly tortured his victims and Targan always used his psychic prowess to give him an advantage in everything. Both killed almost indiscriminately and without honor. It was sickening to the soul.

As the two psychopaths walked away, the old man heard another set of footsteps approaching and turned to see the wild-haired Zev approaching. He was soaking wet and his hair as his brown jumpsuit was shining from the water on it. He was walking calmly down the hallway without a single care in the world.

The old man could at least be around Zev without getting sick to his stomach. Out of all his comrades in arms, he was the only one that seemed to have a normal sense of humor and no hints of insanity. It sometimes made him wonder how a brilliant aeronautical engineer like Zav would join the Advent, let alone rise to the rank he was in. All the captains, including himself thought the old man, seemed to have some psychotic streak in their personalities. You just had to find it in some.

Zav walked right past him, not knowing that the Old man lay hidden only a foot or so away from him. He continued walking until he was turned down the hallway and exited to the meeting room. The old man snuggled deeper into the shadows as he sensed someone else was approaching. The next person came through the doorway, heralded by a subtle change in the temperature.

A woman with deep blue eyes and long blue hair walked past the old man. He could feel a deep chill in his spine as she passed him. The old man had seen much in his life, but the woman in front of him unsettled him to a large degree. Out of all the years he had known her, not once had he seen her display a single emotion other than apathy. There was no smile, no laughter, and no anger. Just simple apathy.

As she walked away, he felt the coldness in the environment and his body dissipate into the original temperature that was in the room before she had walked in. He sighed, he knew that the woman who had just walked past him was probably the smartest of all the Advent Captains, but what always concerned him was her complete lack of emotions.

The old man was about to get up when he heard another person coming.

_Click-clack-click-clack-click_

He quickly shoved himself deeper into the shadows as the only man who he had an ounce of fear and respect for approached. A few seconds later, the robed teenager walked through the doorway. He took several steps forward and stopped.

"Shouldn't you be at the meeting?" He said quietly in a weary voice, then he continued to walk towards the meeting room. The old man sighed and began to follow him.

_It's been twenty years since I've met him, and not once have I ever gotten the drop on him…_

* * *

"Well now it seems we are all here…except where is the old man?" Trask asked from the head of the long table.

"He's here." Said the teenage boy who looked like he had just come back from a Bleach anime convention. None of the other captains knew his name, so they simply called him master because of his skill with the blade.

"Very well then, I guess we shall go ahead and start." He indicated a blue haired women, "Yanna, please show us your findings."

Yanna stood up and handed a few documents to each of the captains.

"The recent Intel I've gained through our mole in the Special Operations Division of the Rangers and my recent….actions….have given us a clear picture of their current state of operations pertaining to our interests in the boy. But it came at a cost; they now know that we know they exist."

"How?" Zav asked as he flipped through some random pictures.

"One of their agents overheard a conversation between one of our men and Varne."

There was a snort of laughter from Saruo and everyone except Master looked over to him. Targan too, had a look full of amusement.

"That man is so eager to please the Boss that he would screw up like this. He's a pathetic has-been that doesn't deserve to be in our 'illustrious' breakfast club. We never even needed him in the first place, since we already knew about the Spec-ops ever since they started out."

"I don't like him either, but if the Boss says he's alright, I guess he's alright." Zav added while running a hand through his hair. Yanna waited until Saruo calmed down before continuing.

"It doesn't matter what that sack of shit Varne does as long as he stays out of our way." Targan said with a sigh.

"Nevertheless, the Spec-ops will be on their guard even more now because of this. But we have been able to gain a better understanding of the direction the group is taking. What we know so far is that their final destination is Delta City. They plan to take the Leyalin route and then the hot springs."

Zav scratched his chin.

"Why would they take the Leyalin route, the Grass Sea is much faster…"

"Who cares, The east side is still boring, no urban areas to hunt in…" Saruo said with a malicious grin on his face. Everyone present ignored him.

"Do we have any more information on Spec-ops Plant?" Targan asked.

"Luckily, the file that we stole had a complete personnel file on the commando. Turn to page 16." There was a muffle of pages being turned. There was a pause as everyone read up.

"Interesting….he has no last name…" Trask commented.

"I believe it might be a fake name, I can only find records of him going back five years when he joined the Spec-ops." Yanna said.

"So….Kite eh…he can't be that bad, he's only a teenager…no offense Master." Zav said to the swords master, but received no answer. He turned around to look at the teenage swordsman. What he saw almost made him fall out of his chair. Behind him he heard Saruo and Trask let out small gasps.

In front of them, the captains where observing something that was almost as elusive as a shiny Articuno with Pokerus. Something none of them had expected to see in their lives.

Master, the cloudless blade of the East, had a look of shocked surprise on his face.

The teenaged sword masters eyes where open wide and his mouth jaw was hanging onto his skull by a thread, if someone was to listen closely, they would have heard a tiny gasp of disbelief.

Everyone stared at him for a few moments in utter disbelief until Trask broke the silence.

"Hehehe…seems Master is intimidated by thi-"He started to say.

Nobody saw his hand move, or the flash of silver in the air, but they did see the small knife impaled in Trask's chair, less than an inch away from his neck. Trask immediately jumped to his feet, seemingly unfazed by how close to death he had come. His hand reached down toward a poke ball.

"Don't." Master said. That single word held so much power, that it forced Trask to immediately freeze. He looked up at the sword master who had his eyes hidden under his bucket hat. Master folded his arms.

"You may be a so called 'Pokémon master', but I can still kill you in a hundred different ways before you can even blink." Masters voice was calm, but there was a slight edge of menace in it that made everyone present except Yanna and Saruo shudder.

"I have lived far longer and seen more things that you little man, so don't think about talking to me like that." Trask sat down in his seat and pulled out the knife that was embedded in the chair. Master turned to Yanna.

"This man, Kite, Is this accurate?"

"Yes it is."

"I'm not quite sure..." He said in a rare moment of humility (for him, that's the best you get)"But I think I've seen him before."

There was stunned silence across the table.

"May I ask how?" Zav asked.

"No." Master said simply. Zav was about to argue but thought better of it.

"Let me guess…someone you crossed blades with?" Targan said sarcastically.

There was a slight pause; master looked as if he was unsure what to say. Then slowly, he nodded.

Targan immediately started to pay more attention, along with the rest of the group also. Even Yanna managed to look surprised to a small degree by raising a single eyebrow.

"WHAT? AND HE SURVIVED?" Saruo almost screamed.

"Someone escaped your blade??? That's impossible!"

"I am inclined to agree!"

Everyone started to throw questions around, raising the rooms volume to a massive degree.

"Enough." He said simply. Immediately everyone became silent.

Master look off his beach hat and ran a hand across his short, silver hair. He usually only took his hat off when he was trying to concentrate or when it was wet. And since the sprinklers in the room weren't going off, he was clearly trying to think.

"Even if I did meet him in the past….this has absolutely nothing to do with any of you, and I will not force this issue upon you." He raised a finger into the air. "However, none of you shall interfere with Ash Ketchum, his friends and especially Kite unless I allow it."

Saruo immediately jumped to his feet in anger.

"You can't tell me to do that! The Teenager was to be mine! I was going to be the one who would break him and taste his soul!"

"Honestly, Nightmare Master, sometimes I wonder what the boss saw in you to let you in to this. The only thing you do is torture people. Torture without a honorable fight beforehand is wrong."

Saruo let out a 'fhee' noise and stuck his nose up in disgust.

"You're starting to sound like the old man….where is that old fool anyways?" He asked while looking around.

Master considered telling him that he was two feet behind him listening carefully to everything Saruo was saying. But that wasn't his style.

"The fact of the matter is, if you touch him in anyway…" He laid a hand on the hilt of his sword. Everyone present tensed, even a look of fear appeared in Saruo's eyes.

"I'll fucking cut you into so many pieces that you would look like a red puddle on the ground."

While most people would take this as an exaggeration, everyone present knew that this was the complete and utter truth.

Trask sighed.

"Fine…the bosses plan doesn't require Ketchums……abilities until far later. Do what you want."

Across the table, everyone else grudgingly came to an agreement on staying out of Masters way for the time being. The teenager gave a small bow and sat back down.

"Well….I've said my piece." Yanna exclaimed. Trask sat up in his chair.

"I guess it's decided then, we have what we need and we know our next course of action. I shall now take my leave." Trask pressed one of his poke balls and a Alakazam appeared.

"Until next time my fellow comrades." Then there was a flash of light and he teleported away. Yanna got up, and without a word, walked out of the meeting room. There was a noticeable change in the temperature as she left.

Saruo and Targan both gave Master and Zav dirty looks before walking away. Saruo was already talking about finding another victim by the time they were gone. Leaving Zav and Master alone. The teenager turned towards the High-flyer Captain.

"I require the use of one of your planes."

Zav put on his flight goggles and looked at him with a curious look.

"Thinking about taking a field trip?"

"Possibly, how long would it take for me to get to Palmer?"

"Well…if the wind is alright and there are no major storms over the Mid Mountains…probable two days…"

Master nodded his head.

"It doesn't really need to be that fast…but I'll take whatever you got."

Zav nodded to him and began walking away.

"Meet me later tonight, normal place; I'll have a crew get your ride ready." And with that, he walked out of the meeting room. Master sighed and turned around to the old man, who had hidden himself in his shadow. He had a knowing expression on his face.

"I know…..I know the chances of him being alive are one in a million….but I somehow I know its him, old friend…"

He looked out a window at the stormy evening.

"If it is him….I will make him suffer…."


	19. When we go drinking

**I'm back baby…"cue fireworks"**

"HOLY CRAP!" Sange yelled as he slammed his soda can onto the table, causing Kite and Dean to jump up in their seats from surprise.

"What?" Dean asked the wild eyed Lucario.

"It's been like….like….Two months since we've updated!!"

Both Kite and Dean stared at him with bland expressions.

"Update what…?" Dean asked. Sange jumped onto the table and grabbed Dean's shirt collar.

"THE NEXT CHAPTER MAN." He yelled.

Dean narrowed his eyes and grabbed both of Sange's hands and lifted them off him.

"Sange…have you smoked the wrong berry again?" He said lightly.

"No, the voices told me it was the right one!!" He suddenly looked outside and saw a passing group of children. A look of total joy passed his face.

"Gasp….its the rare human Pokémon…I'm gonna catch it! "He ran towards the window and jumped. "SANGE AWAAAAAAY"CRASH "I'LL BE A Pokémon MASTER ONE DAAAAAAAY!!!" He yelled as he began to chase after the children.

"You going to stop him?" Dean asked Kite, who was simply looking at a list of what the bar served.

"Why should I?"

"Because….uhhh….well….uhhh….Never mind" Dean said before signaling the barkeeper. The tall, long brown-haired bartender walked over stood in front of Dean and Kite.

"What can I get you two?"

"I'll have a tequila slammer." Dean said, ordering his favorite drink.

"And you sir?" he asked Kite.

"ummm…." Usually Kite hated drinking anything that had an iota of alcohol in it, but after drinking only water on their trip from the Port, he was feeling thirsty.

"Got any Sake (**Saki for those who can't pronounce worth crap)**" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"uhhh….no….I don't even know what that is…I'm sorry, can I get you something else then?" He said with a confused look on his face.

"ehhh….just ice water then…" Kite said with a sigh. The bartender nodded and walked away to prepare their drinks.

"I see you haven't lost your taste for drinks from the Vale." Dean said from beside him.

"Yeah, I would be surprised if he knew what Sake was….or even the vale for that matter." He said, referring to the mysterious, far eastern continent that had closed their borders off over two hundred years ago for an unknown reason. Even the Spec-ops were clueless to why this had happened and had long since given up attempting to find out.

The only reason Dean knew about the vale was because of his connections to Kite.

"So anyways, how we doing so far?" He asked.

Kite responded by pulling out a map of the North-Western part of the Southlands. He pointed towards woods edge, the town that they were currently staying at.

"It took us a week and a half of traveling to get here, and we moved at a moderate pace." He then indicated The Silent Forest and Palmer. "If we keep up the same speed, and don't get sidetracked, we should make it through the woods and into Palmer in a week….but"

Dean folded his arms.

"But?"

"This is the Silent Woods we are talking about…I mean; mothers tell kids stories about the woods to get them to sleep…"

"They also tell stories about me to make them wet their beds.." Dean said with an outrageously straight face.

Kite ignored him.

"If something goes wrong in there…"

"What could go wrong?" Dean asked. He already knew the answer, but wanted to make sure Kite was thinking along the same lines he was.

"Well, how about it turns out Ketchum is part of the Advent and kills us all in our sleep."

"I really don't think…"

"yeah neither do I, but it's still a possibility. I have no idea of why Terrorist group has an interest in this kid, but I intend to protect him…or arrest him." Kite said with a serious voice. A second later, the bartender walked up and handed them their drinks. Kite took a sip from the cool water and turned back to the map.

"Anyways, once we hit Palmer and the Grass Sea, should be easy sailing to Leyalin and the Mid Mountains." Kite noticed Dean visibly flinch at the mention of the Mid Mountains.

"Something wrong?" He asked. Dean suddenly looked very uncomfortable. He started to nervously look around and his voice dropped to a mere whisper.

"Umm…do we have to take the road that borders the northern Mid Mountains?" He asked in a strange voice.

Kite raised his eyebrow in confusion.

"Why…"

"I uhhh…" Dean started to scratch his right shoulder but suddenly stopped and forced his hand down. "I just don't feel comfortable around that area."

Kite folded his arms and gave his partner a hard look.

"We are not going to Leyalin and then taking the southern route through the free-fire zone without a damn good reason."

"I know I know….I just don't want to head that direction…"

"Why?"

"Never mind…" He said slowly, then turned towards his drink. But Kite wouldn't let it slide.

"If there is something I should know about, then you should tell me." He said, his voice holding a small amount of concern for his partner.

"I said nothing." Dean retorted in a voice that held a hard edge of someone who wasn't going to answer no matter what.

"fine then, I'll just have you know that-" Before Kite continued, there was a large ruckus at the entrance to the bar. Both Kite and Dean turned around to see what looked like a group of college frat boys (**YAAAAY STEREOTYPES) **pushing their way inside. The one in the lead looked around the bar and then set his eyes on the two young men, and along with his group, started walking towards them.

Dean groaned.

"Look, a convenient distraction!"

* * *

"Hey May…." Ash said while sitting on a bench in the town square.

"Hmmm?" May said without looking up from a town map she had found.

"Why is Sange throwing Poke balls at little children?" He said in a completely normal voice.

"Beats me." She said.

"Maybe cause he's a-, you know, retard?" Kiri said with a laugh….before a Poke ball went sailing through the air and smacked her in the face."

"AWWWWW, I forgot I got to damage it first, oh well…" Sange yelled from the other side of the square before running off, laughing manically.

Kiri took off her hat for a second and ran a hand through her long black hair before putting it back on.

"I swear sometimes that guy…"

"Yeah he does that to everyone you know." May said.

"But..."

"Everyone…" Ash added.

"Oh fine" Kiri said with a sigh. "So anyways, what's to do in this town May?"

May continued to look trough the town map for anything that could be described as 'fun'.

"Well uhhh….they have ummm….a general store…" She said with a tiny laugh.

Ash and Kiri were not amused.

"I'm sorry; this town is really small…I can't find anything interesting!!"

Kiri sighed and stood up, dusting her summer dress off. She looked around at the small town before her. From what Kite had told them, woods edge was nothing more than what he called "a gate city". A gate city was a town or settlement that sat on the transition between one region to another. In Woods edge's case, the two regions where the North-west and the Grass Sea, with the silent Forest separating them.

"Well…It is a small town, Brock and Dawn are getting our supplies….we are stuck out here and….Where are Kite and Dean?" She asked.

"I think they went to the pub." May said. She stood up. "We got nothing better to do, so want to head over there?"Both Ash and May nodded and began following Kiri towards the pub where Kite and dean were staying.

"So like, why is Kite in a pub? I thought he hates alcohol." Kiri asked.

"I think me and him are the only ones that do..." Ash said with a nervous laugh.

"No, you just can't hold your booze." May said with a laugh. The last time the whole group had had drinks together, it was on the very boat where they had all met. Everyone, even the girl had been able to hold more alcohol than Ash, who had almost passed out on his first sip.

"yeah…We've come a long way since then." Kiri said, referring to the relationships they all had now. Kiri was practically Mays best friend and enjoyed being around Kite. May was close friends with Kite and buddies with Dean. Everyone loved to hate Sange.

Kiri had pointed out that as they traveled, they could resemble a massive dysfunctional family. Everyone, except Sange who called it a circus, was able to smile and agree.

"Hey…." Kiri suddenly stopped, causing Ash and May to bump into her. The two of them looked over her shoulder and saw a large crowd looking through the windows of the pub.

"What's going on?" May asked in a confused voice.

* * *

"You don't seem to understand those are OUR favorite seats." Said the apparent leader of the group of men who where now badgering Kite and Dean.

Kite started the man down without batting an eye.

"Fine, I'll go ahead and move." Kite said in a calm voice.

The man just laughed. "You don't understand, we don't like people-"SLUUUUUURP Both Kite and the man turned to see Dean slurping the last of his drink with a green silly straw. He grinned.

"Couldn't resist it hehehe…" Dean said as he put his drink down.

Kite managed to not burst out laughing, but still let a smile crack out as he turned back towards the angry looking man.

"Well, I'm terribly sorry about all this, we'll just be going now…" Kite started to get up, but the man grabbed his shoulder and shoved him back down.

"I don't think-"

Kite reached up and put his hand on top his hand.

"That…"He began to squeeze with surprising strength, making the man flinch. "Was a very…" He twisted one of his fingers, making him yhelp in pain. "Big mistake…"

He let go of his hand. The man jerked backwards and held his injured hand close to his chest.

Dean then took that moment to join in by standing up and planting his hands on table.

"Kite, I've been in a lot of bar-room brawls…and this one is taking forever to start up…so I'm gonna go ahead and…." Dean twisted around a threw a punch at one of the men, knocking him flat on his back "…Jump the gun!!!"

Dean Jumped forward and crouched into a fighting stance.

"ENGUARD!"

The group if men took one look at their fallen comrade, before letting out various curse words and oaths to rip dean limb from limb. And as one, they lunged towards him. Kite sighed and bolted to his feet.

"And all I wanted…" He grabbed the closest attacker and used his momentum to throw him over his shoulder and crashing into a table. "WAS A DRINK!" He yelled as he kicked another man in the face.

From besides him, Dean was laughing out of all things as he grabbed a plate of pasta from a very surprised customer and slammed it into the face of his closest attacker. He then twisted around, grabbed the back of the head of another man and slammed it into the table, knocking him out instantly.

"Haven't had a good bar fight in months!" Dean yelled as he kneed someone in the gut, dropping him to the floor.

Kite ignored him and grabbed a fist that was aimed at his head, twisted it and then pulled down, causing the man to fall the ground in a pain. Kite then looked up and through the window…to see Ash, Kiri and may all staring at him with their jaws wide open.

"Uh oh…uhh…hehe…." Kite waved at them.

The only response he got back was a look of horror from May and Kiri frantically pointing to something behind him. Before he could turn around, he found himself in a choke hold.

The second he felt the arm tighten around his neck, he placed one foot back and the started to shift his weight forward and down. In the matter of a second, the man who thought he had the upper hand suddenly found himself flying through the air and a glass window.

Ash, May and Kiri jumped backward as the man landed with a heavy thud on the ground next to them, clearly knocked out.

Kite Stuck his head through the broken window and smiled and gave a nervous laugh.

"Hey guys! Me and dean are kind of in the middle of something right now…." From behind Kite, the three of them suddenly heard Dean yell:

"watch the birdie!!!" There was a loud thud "Awww you didn't watch the birdie…"

Kite scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, I think we should leave this town soon…."

"Kite…is this gonna happen every time we let you and Dean go to a bar alone?" Kiri said, clearly not fazed by the violence taking place around her.

"They started it!!!" Kite yelled.

"I don't care who started it!! If this happens again I'll end it!"

Kite gave her a flat look.

"Sange pissed you off again…"

"Yep…"

"Well I can't-"he whipped around suddenly at the sound of someone running and saw the leader of the group holding his broken hand and scurrying towards the exit.

Without saying a word to Kiri or Dean, he vaulted over a table and ran after his as he dove through an exit to the back of the building.

Even though he had a head start of several second, Kite managed to catch up to him and slam him into a wall, face first. Now that he was alone, he no longer had to hide under any mask.

The Spec-ops Assassin inside of him rose to the surface.

"There are two ways this can go down…" Kite squeezed his broken hand making him cringe in pain. "One…you can tell me why you attacked me and my friend…"

"You where in our seat and-"Kite shoved his hand into the man's side making yell in pain.

"….or….I can break every bone in your body and leave you to rot…" He said in an incredibly dark voice.

The last line convinced the man to tell the truth.

"Ok ok….some Kid, younger than both of us, paid us a few hundred bucks to beat the crap out of you. It was a lot of money for something simple! So we decided to do it."

"Wait back up, you where sent to attack ME?" Kite asked in a confused tone.

"Yes, you, he gave us a photo of you and everything…"

Kite ignored the rest of his words and slammed his head into the wall, knocking him out instantly. As he dropped to the ground, Kite was already walking away with his mind spinning. As he walked towards the front, he didn't notice that dean was arguing with the bartender about the damage they had caused. He didn't notice Ash, Kiri and May rush over to him. He didn't notice anything. He only had one thought in his head.

Someone in the Southlands had him on their list.


	20. Total Silence

**Chapter Name: **Total Silence

**Author Notes: ** Hey All! Kite here to wish you all a good day! Sorry about the long wait between chapters, College is a total B*tch sometimes. Well now we are finnaly starting to enter the Southlands that I've been wanting to enter. The southlands that is as beautiful as it is deadly. Up unto this point the Southlands crew hasn't had much of a problem with the land. That all changes in this chapter.

**Chapter Start…..**

_This place lives up to its name…._

A gentle wind wafted through the trees, parting the leaves as it cut through the air. The only sound Kiri was able to here was the wind blowing, beyond that there was nothing.

_Just silence…_

No birds, no bubbling streams, no Pokémon.

_This forest is dead…yet alive…_

Kiri closed her eyes and tried to pick up a sound that wasn't the trees creaking in the wind.

_Something….Anything……nothing…_

She sighed and opened her eyes to see Kite staring at her.

"Something wrong?" He asked. Kiri shook her head and laughed.

"No, just trying to listen to the forest. I'll admit, if the wind wasn't blowing, this place would be creepy."

Kite let out a small grin and turned back towards the rest of the group who were resting on the side of the road. Kiri herself decided to sit down and rest her legs. She sat down and leaned back on a small tree and stretched out her legs.

They had left Woods Edge earlier this morning after spending the night resting. They had originally planned to stay for another day to prepare for the journey south to Palmer, but both Kite and Dean had insisted on leaving that day. Considering what had happened yesterday, Kiri couldn't argue.

As she rested, she glanced at Kite who was looking out into the trees with narrowed eyes. She still had a hard time wrapping her mind around what she had seen yesterday. She had watched the man who she saw as a kind and cheerful person (**Lol…She's in for a surprise) **turn into a master martial artist. She had seen people perform martial arts before in movies and sometimes in person when she passed through the dojo in Sootopolis City, but never before had she seen someone so efficient and fast. The fact that he seemed to shrug the whole thing off as a "simple misunderstanding in a bar" was also very strange.

But she had noticed that ever since that day, Kite had become a little bit more careful. The entire time they had been walking, he had been casting glances over his shoulder and scanning the forest. Almost as if he was suspecting something to jump out and attack them.

But considering how strange this forest was, something just might.

"I think we've spent long enough resting and loafing around." Ash said while standing up.

Pikachu jumped on his back and let out an agreement. As everyone else stood up, May suddenly shot up like a rocket and pointed into the forest.

"I think I just saw someone!" She said. Everyone's head turned and looked in the general direction that she had been pointing. Kiri looked hard into the dark, forest but saw nothing.

"It was probably Dean." Kite said as he lifted up his pack.

"No, Dean is right-" Brock said turning around and looking behind him, only to see nobody there, "-….here…"

"Guys a damn ninja sometimes…" Sange muttered as he began walking down the path to the south.

"What's he doing out there?" Dawn asked Kite.

"Probably checking to see if anything is out there." Kite said in a serious tone. As if nature was laughing at him, the wind suddenly died down for a moment and silence fell across the forest. Everyone stared at each other as the silence dawned on them. Then a few seconds later the wind picked up again.

"Talk about dramatic effect…" Sange muttered again. But Kiri could tell he was alert as Kite, as his ears occasionally twitched as they scanned for any sound.

_This forest is getting to everyone…._

"Is there something out there?" May asked in a calm voice, but Kiri could tell she was worried.

Kite shrugged, but the hard edge in his eyes didn't leave.

"Maybe, maybe not….but if there is something that goes bump in the night out there, Dean will be there to bump first."

* * *

"Anyone else here that?" Ash said from the front of the group. Everyone stopped and listened.

"Yeah, it's about time we got there…"Kite said.

"Got where?" May asked him. Kite put a finger to his lips.

"Listen"

Everyone stopped and opened up their ears to listen for whatever sound Ash and Kite had picked up. Slowly but surley, they began to here what sounded like the sound of water cascading over rocks.

"There's a river out here?" Kiri asked Kite.

"Several rivers in fact. This area is called the bridge zone due to having at least 7 rope bridges."

Ash suddenly turned very pale.

"Did you say….Seven….rope bridges…" He said in a voice full of fear. Kite raised his eyebrow.

"Yeah. So?"

"uh…uh…uh….uh.." Ash said while looking like he was about to throw up.

Brock gave a nervous laugh from beside him.

"We don't have a very good track record with rope bridges." He said.

"Don't worry these bridges look pretty new." Said a voice behind Kiri and May. Both of them nearly jumped ten feet in the air from surprise. Standing behind them was Dean with a very amused expression on his face.

"Sorry girls." He said with a laugh as they both shot his a dirty look. "Anyways, I checked out the first bridges, and they look pretty safe so I don't think tha-"

**FIVE MINUTES LATER**

"And I always wonder why my path always has to cross one of these bridges" Ash said sarcastically.

"You probably pissed on a Indian burial ground, how should I know! Just don't move!" Dean said while holding onto the side rope.

"You know….we should have gone across this thing one at a time… " May said with a slow voice.

"Yeah well…..Hindsight is a bitc-"Sange Began.

**Creaaaaaak**

Everyone froze and looked down at the wooden planks holding them up. As soon as they had reached the middle of the bridge, the wood had started to creak and moan from the stress. Suddenly the raging river that was below them looked far more dangerous as there was a chance they could fall in.

In the front of the group, Kite was watching the bridge swing back and forth in the wind. For a moment he considered getting everyone to double time it across, but as he looked at some of the boards, he decided it wasn't the best of his ideas.

Beside him, Kiri had one hand on the rail, and the other on her hat.

"Kite, Do you think you could use moon to hold the bridge?" She asked.

"That would work…but I'm worried about the extra weight she'll put on the bridge the instant I let her out."

Sange snorted.

"I don't think Moon is fat….this is all Kiri's fault!"

"WHAT?" She yelled, turning around. The bridge shifted a little under her feet.

"AHHHHH" Everyone let yelled as they gripped the ropes tighter, but Kiri wasn't about to be stopped.

"HOW IS THIS MY FAULT?"

"I'm just saying, your hat probably weighs two hundred pounds or something and-" Sange started to say before he turned and look at the other side of the bridge. Kiri, Kite and the others all turned to see a Pidgeot flying towards the bridge. It looked tired from flying as its wing beats seemed to me lazy. It then noticed the the bridge and began flying towards it.

"Is that bird…." Dawn Began. Everyone Then started to slowly let out a long curse.

"Oh…."

The massive flying Pokémon started slowing down as it reached the bridge.

"Son…"

Kite reached down to his belt and pulled out a poke ball, returning Sange in a flash of white light. The bridge suddenly shifted as it reacted to the absence of his weight.

"Of…"

The Pidgeot brought itself to a hover and gently touched down on one of the support ropes.

"A….."

Kite quickly grabbed Kiri's hand and looped his other arm around the support rope that the Bird Pokémon wasn't sitting on. Kiri gasped and then squeezed his hand tightly. Behind them, Ash saw them do that, and without thinking, he grabbed May's hand.

"BIIIIIIIIITCHHHH"

Within two seconds of the bird touching down, everyone heard one of the support ropes let out a squealing sound and…snapped.

The bird Pokémon let out a loud "PIDGE" and flew away. The humans on the other hand where not so lucky, as none of them had the ability to fly..(**See outtakes later lol) **

The Bridge suddenly flipped onto its side as one of the support ropes suddenly went slack. The first thing to happen was for Brock, Dean and Dawn to fly over the side and fall into the water as they were holding onto the rope that had snapped. They made a large splash as they fell into the river below them, and within seconds, where already swept away out of sight.

A few seconds later, the remains of the bridge seemed to "bounce" due to the shift in weight, causing Ash, May and Pikachu to all fall into the water, leaving just Kite and Kiri. Luckily, Kite had a strong grip on the rope, and Kiri who was holding onto his hand below him.

"Oh Damn we are royally screwed!" Kiri yelled, trying to be heard over the rush of the rapids and the various debris smashing into each other. Kite Let out a groan as he felt his muscles burning in his left arm as he held his own weight along with Kiri's.

"Yeah…we are…" He said with a grunt. He could feel his shoulder start to give away from the constant strain.

"Oh damn…"

"What?" Kiri Yelled from under him. Kite looked down and saw her face. He saw the fear outlined on her soft features and sapphire eyes.

He squeezed her hand harder and let out a small grin.

"I'm not letting go!" He yelled. For a single moment, the fear in her eyes evaporated to be replaced with something else that Kite couldn't quite put his finger on, but he had bigger issues. Already he could feel his left arm starting to pop out of his shoulder and the tendons in his right hand starts to break.

But he would not let go.

"Gahhh….Kiri, can you climb on top of me!" He yelled through gritted teeth while trying to fight against the pain slowly burning through his body.

"I can try!" She yelled as she began using Kites arm as a "Rope" and began climbing up his body. She reached his shoulders and wrapped her arms around his neck, holding tight.

"Like this?" She said into his ear.

"Yeah…I think I can get to the other side now that I have two hands and.."

**SNAP**

From the other side of the bridge the last remaining rope began to split, adding several feet to the length of the rope, but staying strong enough to support their weight. The dropped several feet through the air and suddenly came to a stop, bouncing through the air as the thin rope struggled to distribute their momentum from the fall they just took.

The instant they jerked upwards in the bounce, Kite felt his arm leave his shoulder socket in an explosion of pain.

"GAAAAAHAHH" Kite screamed as his arm began spasm.

"KITE" Kiri yelled from his back.

But as he lost all motor control in his arm, the rope he was holding on finally gave a groan and snapped in two. And within a few seconds, the two of them where falling through the air and into the water.

* * *

"_HOT DROP IN ONE" Came Zach's voice over the intercom as Kite checked his weapon for the last time. The cabin gave a shudder as Kite heard, or rather felt a Anti-air missile pass by. But he wasn't worried. He had faith that Zach could drive the drop ship through hell without even getting a scratch on it and keep everyone inside safe._

_Outside the window, he could see a rapidly approaching island and small explosions from AA fire. There were other drop ships too, all full of Spec-ops Commandos, ready to battle and ready to die._

_But he was the most important person here._

"_Alright Kid, you ready for this?" Sky asked from across him._

_Kite shoved a custom magazine into his Combat Rifle and flipped the safety off._

"_Just get me there." He said in a low voice._

_Sky nodded, "And you're clear on the target?"_

"_Yes"_

"_THIRTY SECONDS, GET READY TO KICK IT" Zach yelled._

"_Alright Austin, you're up at bat and the bases are loaded..."_

_Suddenly, instead of Sky finishing his sentence, his face seemed to warp and twist. His words became a distant echo and grayness started to dot Kites vision. He began to feel like someone was grabbing onto his chest and hitting it with a sledgehammer. _

"_This is a dream…"_

_He tried to breathe in but couldn't. He tried to move but couldn't._

_Kite Austin was slowly suffocating to death and he was powerless to stop it._

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………_.._

"Oh man…" Kiri coughed up a torrent of water and threw up the contents of her stomach. She grabbed her stomach in pain as she continued to empty her lungs and stomach of any and all fluids.

"Ugggg…." She said while wiping her mouth and looking around. All around her, silent trees stood motionless and tall. Behind her was the river she had just been washed down along with Kite.

_Kite…_

"KITE" She yelled, shooting up to her feet. She scanned the area around her and noticed what looked like a person farther up river. She quickly ran to the figure and gasped.

Kite lay completely still, face down on the ground.

And in his Hand was her hat. Upon seeing the hat in his hand, memories from the past few moments flooded back into her head.

_We fell into the water…then Kite grabbed me and held me tight._

_But something was wrong with his arm…_

_He was in pain…_

_Then we hit a rock and we got separated..Kite tried to grab me, but ended up grabbing my hat…and then this…_

She dropped onto her knees and pushed Kite onto his back and leaned down to listen for a heartbeat.

There was none.

Blind panic surged into her mind as she suddenly realized that the man who had saved her could be dead.

"Oh no no no no no no no." She started repeating. In the back of her mind, a single voice of reason was able to penetrate the veil of panic. CPR!! Quickly, she started compressing his chest with the palm of her hand in a rhythmic fashion. Each compression slightly harder than the last as the panic started to take hold again.

"Come on Kite…" She pleaded.

She hesitated for a second, but then pressed her lips onto Kites and held his nose shut as she breathed deep into his throat. After expending her supply of oxygen, she removed her lips from his and then tried again.

_No response_

"Come on…" She said in desperation. She repeated to compressions and the breathed air into his lungs again. Yet still nothing happened. She tried it another, and even another time yet still nothing happened. The blind panic set in again.

"COME ON KITE DON'T DO THIS TO ME" She started pounding his chest in blind panic. Tears started flowing from her eyes as she saw no reaction from him.

"DAMN-"_ pound "-_IT_-"pound "_-KITE-"_pound "_-WAKE-" pound "-UP"

As soon as her arm connected with Kites chest the next time, she felt was could only be described as an electrical shock pass through her arm. It started from her heart, traveled into her shoulder and down through her arm. Yet she was so panicked by then, she didn't feel it and continued to pound.

Kites eyes shot open.

"WAKE-" _pound "_-UP-" She yelled and prepared to pound his chest again.

Kites hand shot up and grabbed her arm before it could land.

"You can stop hitting me now…" He said in pained voice, but there was a smile on his face. Kiri's eyes suddenly changed from complete sadness to disbelief, and then complete and total bliss. She shoved forward and wrapped her arms around Kite, tears coming from her eyes.

"OHMYGOD I THOUGHT YOU DIED" She yelled through tears of happiness.

"Kiri…"Kite said in a level voice.

"Yes?" She said, still holding onto him tightly.

"Can you…get off my shoulder please…?" He said, pain now evident in his voice. Kiri almost leaped of Kite, a blush on her face.

"Sorry…" She said.

"Hehe…sok..I think this is yours." He said, holding up her hat. Kiri smiled and blushed again as she took it and placed it on her head.

Kite managed to prop himself up without putting any pressure on his dislocated shoulder. He rolled his sleeve up and started to examine his shoulder with careful eyes.

"Well…good news is, I can fix this…"

"I sense a but coming…."

"….Its gonna hurt like hell…I need to find my bag…"

Kiri nodded and began scanning the riverside until she noticed both her and Kites bag on the riverbank. She quickly retrieved them and brought them to Kite. Kite reached in and brought out a clean shirt, but instead of putting it on, he stuck some of it between his teeth. Kiri raised her eyebrow at him.

"What are you doing?"

"Marking shure thath I doth bite my tounge" He said with the shirt in his mouth. He took it the shirt out for a moment.

"Kiri…can you please leave for five minutes, take a look around?"

"Why? I want to make sure your alright…"

"I'm fine, please Kiri."

Kiri looked into his eyes and saw a note of desperation in them. He didn't want her to look around, he didn't want her to see what he was about to do. Kiri sighed and began walking to the tree line. She gave one last concerned look at him before disappearing into the forest.

Kite relaxed, then stiffened.

_Well here we go._

He quickly began twisting his elbow left and right in a rhythmic fashion. After several second of that, he grabbed his upper arm and shoved it violently into his shoulder.(**Yeah I know that's not how you fix a anterior dislocation, but this is for dramatic effect)**

"RRRRRRAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRG"

Even though his voice was muffled by the cloth, his scream could still be heard across most the forest. He gasped as he literally "felt" his joints resetting. After he was done, he fell on his side and gasped for air. He suddenly felt someone behind him.

"I thought I told you to take a walk…" He said through gasps.

"Yeah well…the whole forest could here you" Kiri said as she fell to her knees beside him.

"Hehe…I bet…Help me up please…" Kiri looped an arm around him and pulled him up to his feet. Kite nearly fell over, but Kiri kept him on his feet. Together they walked to a nearby tree and sat down next to each other.

"Jeez that must have really hurt, I guess the only things you can here in this forest is the wind, water, people's screams and that….never mind."

"Never mind what?" Kite asked.

Kiri shook her head and laughed.

"I must have been hearing things or something, it's nothing."

"No tell me." Kite said with a small smile.

"Well….Wind chimes…" She said shrugging.

Kite jumped to his feet so fast that Kiri fell onto her side in surprise.

"Show me!" Kiri heard a tiny tenor of what sounded like desperation in his voice. But it was gone instantly. Kite reached down and pulled her to her feet.

"Well ok, I'll show you where I heard it." The two of them began walking in the direction that Kiri originally walked. As they passed through the trees, the sound of the river began to rapidly diminish, turning from a roaring and majestic tenor, to a dull moan.

_Wow I must have screamed loudly for her to hear me…_

"Well…I thought I heard them around here…"

Kite opened his ears and listened for anything that wasn't the river or the wind. After listening for several seconds, the excitement that had been building inside of him started to diminish.

"Well…I guess it was just the wind or something-" Kiri began

_Cling………cling……….cling……_

"Did you-"

"-here that?"

The two of them looked at each other for a split second before running towards the source of the noise. Kite was now visibly excited.

"If this is what I think it is…" He yelled.

A few seconds later, they arrived in a small clearing.

They both came to a stop and gasped.

"What….what….is…this place…" Kiri managed to say.

On every tree in the grove, there where silver wind chimes. Dozens upon dozens of metal tubes gently wafted through the air, slowly creating a beautiful melody that touched both of their souls. On the other side of the grove was what appeared to be a small enclosure with a log roof and sides. They could both see what appeared to be a wall with writing on it inside of it.

"This is….A Vale Wind Chime Shrine…." Kite said with wonder in his voice.

"A…..What….?" Kiri said, taking her eyes off the scene before her and onto Kite.

"Well the vale is-"

"I know what Isaranami is Kite, I'm asking about the shrine."

Kite spun around.

"You know the Vales true name...How??"

She blushed a little.

"I read….a lot…." She shook her head "Anyways, what's this place about?"

The two of them began walking towards the enclosure. As they walked, they saw signs of age in the shrine. Many of the wind chimes there rusted and corroded and some even completely destroyed. Layers of dust lie on the floor of the enclosure, showing no one had been inside it for ages.

"Well….the Isaranami religion is based off a pantheon of gods…yet every god is close to nature, so they build their shrines in places like this."

He walked into the enclosure…and suddenly felt a chill down his spine. Kiri too felt it and stiffened.

"What….is this…this place…feels wrong…" She said.

Kite tried to throw of his discomfort but found he couldn't. Whatever is was, it was chilling him to his very soul. He looked around and saw that a wall had a group of large symbols on it. A group of….

_This is written in…._

He reached forward and ran a hand across the writing. It was wet to the touch and some of the ink stuck to his fingers. He brought it to his nose and smelled it.

"This is written in human blood…."He said. A black cloud seemed to settle on both their hearts.

"But this place looks like nobody has come here in years…."Kiri said, trying to find a way to explain why the blood was still wet.

He looked at the symbol again and frowned.

"What?"

"I'm trying to translate this thing, hold on…"

Kite stared at it for a moment, dredging up the Vale language from the depths of his mind. It had been several years since he had needed to use the language and he had forgotten much of it.

"It says…" Kites heart seemed to flutter as he said the words. "We are watching…."

Outside the wind suddenly died and the wind chimes fell silent. Where the sky had been sunny and bright, it transformed into a deep overcast, with thunder clouds forming.

Both Kite and Kiri looked at each other.

"Kite….what kind of shrine is this…"

Kite looked back at the wall and pointed towards a large symbol, written in ink, not blood.

"That….is the symbol for the Isaranami Death god….and this is his temple…."

* * *

**Authors Notes: hehe, looks like Kite and Kiri are about to have a run in with the supernatural, Lord knows how that will turn out. Anyways, It seems there is another ship being born. KiteXKiri. Anyways folks, see you next time!**

**Outtakes: **

"DON'T WORRY GUYS, IN THE EVENT OF AN EMERGENCY; MY HAT CAN BECOME A HOT AIR BALLON!!" Kiri yelled as she pressed down on a button. A small hatch appeared on top of her hat and in an instant; a huge balloon unfurled and hovered above everyone.

"Well that's unexpected…" Dean growled.


End file.
